


Let it snow

by herilaveur



Category: SKAM (France)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:01:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22648309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/herilaveur/pseuds/herilaveur
Summary: What if Lucas and Eliott met on a school snow trip?Publishing day by day, as if we were there.
Relationships: Eliott Demaury/Lucas Lallemant
Comments: 17
Kudos: 105





	1. Monday

"This is the best day of my life." Basile shouts, jumping for joy as Lucas joins them in the courtyard.

''Okay, breathe, man. It's just a trip.'' grumbles Lucas.

Yann gives him the big eyes.

"Stop being such a grouch. This is the trip! Our only trip of the year."

Lucas sighs and shrugs his shoulders. He'd really rather not go, but he won't tell his friends that. They already think he's cranky.

''They're like kids going off to snow class.'' Lucas laughs.

"Exactly," chords Basile, overexcited, "We're going to the mountains to have fun with girls, beer, weed and..."

"Teachers..." cuts Lucas "a curfew, separate dormitories..."

Basiel beckons him to shut up. 

"It's just details." Arthur goes on, "I hear the senior class is planning a week of madness!"

Lucas sighs again.

"It's weird, though, their new school trip system."

The boys look at him in amazement.

"On the contrary, it's just too good." Arthur comments, "Asking sophomores and seniors to choose a class trip destination together is still crazy."

Lucas is rolling his eyes.

''Still. Having to go away for a week with the sophomores 3 and the seniors 3, just because we're in the first 3, it's kind of dumb, right? Just because we have the same number."

Yann patted him on the shoulder.

"Oh, I understand...Mr. is cranky because his girlfriend is in second 2."

Lucas pushes Yann's hand away.

"Nonsense. She's not my girlfriend anyway."

Basile puts both hands on his shoulders and shakes him.

"So that's all the more reason. We'll spend 5 days chasing girls!"

The teachers gather round and wave to them. Mr Coutan, the maths teacher stands out from the group. He looks one head taller than the rest of the teachers. He has a harsh voice and an inflexible face. He is the toughest teacher in the school but all the girls literally drool in front of him.  
Next to him, the French teacher is talking with the bio teacher while the philosophy teacher is laughing with the sports teacher. Lucas smiles as he looks at him. He's shorter than Lucas, but he's imposing. The students love him, because he is nice, and because he makes sport fun. Plus, he always runs with them when he's teaching, which makes a change from teachers who are addicted to whistles and don't move from their seats the whole session. 

Lucas sits next to Yann on the bus. Basile is so excited that it was out of the question for him to sit next to him. He takes out his headphones and plugs them into his phone. He's got a whole week's worth of playlists ready. Enough to keep him waiting while his friends ski. Because there's no way he's going to put his feet up on skis. 

Yann stops his hand as he's about to put on his headphones.

''Please, Lu... Try to have fun," he says softly.

Lucas nods his head and opens his mouth to answer, but no words come out. He looks at one of the seniors walking up the aisle. He's never seen him before. He's tall, so tall. His hair comes out of the hood of his sweet orange and he has a perfect smile, not even forced. His eyes are slightly stretched out, so you'd think he's not laughing when he looks at them. 

Yann sweeps his hand in front of Lucas' eyes.

"Oh Lucas, are you listening?"

Lucas looks at the guy and it seems like he's repeating his name. Lucas shakes his head, sure he's dreaming and looks at Yann.

''I promise, I'm gonna have a blast. I'm gonna have so much fun, I was begging you not to bring me home on Friday. But right now it's not even 7:00, so I'll just settle down with some music. You want to?"

Yann starts laughing and Lucas puts one of his headphones on to introduce him to a new song. 

The mood on the bus is just crazy. The teachers are all at the front, chatting quietly among themselves, without ever looking towards the back of the bus while the youngsters make a crazy noise.

Some are playing cards, others are talking about the parties they are going to organize and the alcohol they have brought in the hold, well hidden under their clothes. 

When the bus stops at 9 am at a motorway service area, Lucas watches as the high school students almost run out and rush to the bakery. He almost gets out last, preferring not to be pushed and laughs as he passes the girls lining up to go to the toilet.  
The guys offer to have breakfast but Lucas remembers that he didn't take his jacket so he turns around to get his wallet. 

He hears Mr. Coutan screaming before he even gets to their bus. It's not really that he wants to listen, but he doesn't really see how he can get into the bus to get his jacket without passing in front of the teacher.

''It's totally irresponsible what you did, Elliot. Your parents were worried sick about you."

''They'll get over it, they're used to it."

The voice is soft and calm, in complete contrast to the teacher's.

''If we could, we'd wait here for them to come and get you. We're only halfway there yet."

''Let me call them. I'll arrange everything."

The voice gets angry and worried. Lucas looks at the time. They're supposed to be back on the bus in 15 minutes. If he wants something to eat, he's gonna have to get his wallet now.  
He uses the silence as an opportunity to step forward and walks by without looking at the teacher or student. But he recognizes the brown jacket.

"Eliott" repeats to himself as he walks up the aisle to his seat. He grabs his wallet and is about to leave just as Mr. Coutan taps Eliott's shoulder sternly.

''I'm watching you, Elliot. You're not going anywhere alone. No more bullshit until Friday."

As Lucas gets off the bus, Eliot looks at him and smiles.

''Yes, sir. While I'm waiting to get back on the bus, I'm gonna grab a bite to eat with Lucas. I wouldn't be alone if I was with him. Is that good for you?"

Lucas sees his teacher's gaze fall on him. He tries not to show his panicky face. Why the hell would Eliott want to hang out with him. He clearly doesn't. What if he's just looking for an excuse to get the hell out of there. Would Lucas be blamed for letting the older boy get away?

He reaches the parking lot floor, trying to calm his thoughts when he hears his teacher talking to him.

''Okay. Go get something to eat quickly. I didn't know you two were friends. That's good. Lucas is serious. I trust him."

He turns to Elliot and he says, "I don't trust you at all. You better stop fucking around."

So, Eliott grabs Lucas' wrist and pulls him towards the station. But instead of going in, they sneak sideways between two buses and find themselves hidden by a German bus. Eliott stops and drops him. He turns around to look at him and throws what Lucas thinks is the most beautiful smile he has ever seen.

"Thank you, Lucas, you saved me from the lion's claws."

Lucas watches as Eliott reaches under his hood and pulls a joint out from behind his ear. He laughs, thinking he had it there during the whole teacher chat.

"Do you smoke?"

Lucas nods and reaches out to retrieve the joint after Eliott.

"You don't talk?"

Lucas shrugs his shoulders and pulls a long smoke. He passes the joint to Eliott with a smile on his face.

''You don't even ask me what the fuck I did on a Monday morning at 9:00 a.m., just two hours after I left Paris."

Lucas turns his head to Elliot. He smiles but seems surprised.

"You don't have to tell me, you know."

''Oh, fuck, he's talking.'' Eliott laughs.

''Shut up, Elliot. I'm not a morning person." Lucas laughs.

Elliot looks at his watch. 

''It's still 9:25. You ain't a morning person then."

Lucas shrugs his shoulders and grabs the joint.

''My friends will say I'm not noon or afternoon, either, but I'm getting better by the end of the night.''

Eliott looks at him, serious face.

''Well, I can't wait to see you late at night then.''

Lucas is trying to hold back the redness that's trying to get up to his cheeks. He passes the joint to Eliott and tries to change the subject.

"So, why were you getting yelled at so early in the morning?"

"I forged the documents so I could come here this week. My parents didn't want me to come."

Lucas starts laughing.

''And they figured that out already? You're no good at escaping, are you?"

And Elliot laughs with him.

"I'm the king of the escaping. I left them a note to warn them. But I didn't think they'd call the school"

Lucas looks up to the sky.

''Did you think they'd see your note and let you get through the week before they yelled at you on Friday?"

"Yeah," just says Eliott.

He looks at his watch and says they're late. They're sneaking across the buses.

''Why didn't they want you to come?'' asks Lucas softly, looking sideways.

"They're afraid I'll do something stupid," says Eliott, smiling. 

His smile provokes Lucas' smile back. 

When they arrive in front of their bus, Mr. Coutan is waiting for them in front, impatiently.

''We had said 9:30 a.m. It's 9:35 a.m, Lucas."

Lucas lowers his head and whispers a "Sorry" as Elliot stops in front of the teacher.

"It's my fault."

Mr. Coutan looks up at Elliot and raises his eyes to the sky.

"That I can imagine."

"It's my fault," Lucas corrects Lucas as he comes down a step. "I wanted to get coffee, but it was hot and took me a long time to drink it. Sorry.''...

The teacher looks at them both and pushes them up the stairs.

"Come on, come on, we've got a long way to go."

As is the tradition, since they're late, they're cheered by the entire bus. Lucas turns all red and gets all small as Eliott seems to be enjoying the cheering. He raises his hands to the sky as if he was doing the ola.

Lucas finds his place next to Yann.

''What were you doing, man? We've been looking all over for you?"

Arthur turns to his seat to see Lucas.

"What were you doing with Demaury?"

"Eliott?" Lucas asks. Lucas is surprised Arthur knows him.

"Yeah. He transferred out last month. I hear he misses half the classes and draws in the class when he's around. Apparently he missed his SATs last year."

Lucas looks at him, even more surprised. 

"How do you know all this?"

"Emma told me. She found out from Alex. He's standing next to him in French. He doesn't really seem to mingle, but all the girls are trying to hook up with him. It must be the secret side that attracts them."

Lucas gets up from his seat to take off his jacket and sneaks a peek at Eliott. He's sitting next to a girl in her senior year, Mathilde, but looks like he's in what looks like a sketchbook. He is totally turned towards the window, showing that he doesn't want to talk. 

Lucas is half hovering the rest of the way. He ends up falling asleep on Yann's shoulder. When they arrive at the shelter, the stream of young people running down from the bus starts again. Once again, Lucas quietly waits in his place for most of the students to get off. 

It is only when he finally gets up that he notices that Eliott is still there too, asleep, his head resting on the window.  
Lucas looks at the rest of the bus. Some girls are laughing in the front with their jackets on and they are alone in the back.  
He approaches Eliott and shakes him gently by the shoulder.

"Elliot, we're here."

Eliott grunts and then opens his eyes and jumps.

"Sorry." excuses Lucas as he backs away, "We're here."

And Eliot leaps up and looks at the rest of the bus.

''Shit. Thank you for waking me up. The teachers would've been happy to leave me here."

Lucas isn't really sure about that, but he's laughing.

As they both get off, they're called by Mr. Coutan right away.

''Okay, Elliot, I tel your parents. They're letting you spend the week with us. Buta lopsided step and they'll come and get you. You'll come to see me every morning to make sure you're taking your medication. In the meantime, you'll give it to me and I'll lock it up."

Lucas turns to Elliot and he turns pale and his face gets all twitchy.

''Lucas. Since you two seem to be getting along so well, you'll be Elliot's tutor."

''Hey,'' says Eliott, ''I'm way older than him. That's totally idiotic."

Mr. Coutan is waving at Eliott to shut up.

''That's what you get for being a dick, kid. So Lucas will be your tutor. He's a serious student. Lucas, I'm counting on you to make sure that Elliot stays clean and doesn't wander off on his own."

Lucas looks at Elliot and then at his teacher.

''But...'' He starts in shock.

''No protest. Get your bags and go to your room."

Elliot goes into the hold grumbling, followed closely by Lucas, who analyses the situation. Eliott grabs his bag, then Lucas' bag, and pulls them up on his back.

''It's my bag.'' Lucas protests.

It makes Eliott laugh.

''I know. Come on, let's go to our room, tutor." he says, still laughing. 

He walks into the foyer carrying their two bags. Lucas enters first into the bedroom hallway on the ground floor.

"We're in this one" says Yann from the end of the corridor.

Lucas sighs with relief when he sees that the room has five beds.

"Lucas, you forgot your bag in the hold." remarks Arthur.

At the same time, Eliott comes in and puts their bags on the two bunk beds upstairs, shouting "We'll take the top bunk beds.''

Lucas looks at his buddies who don't even bother to close their mouths slightly ajar.

"I thought we were by class?" Yann asks astonished.

"Sorry, you'll have to put up with me," laughs Eliott, "teacher's orders. It's my punishment... and yours too, I guess. I'm Eliott."

The boys introduce themselves and soon the atmosphere becomes less tense. Eliot explains why the teachers are mad at him and tells them that Lucas is his guardian.

"Oh, poor Eliot" finally says to Basil. "Lucas is so cranky."

"Thanks, man." Grumps Lucas.

''See, that's what I was saying. Lucas is such a killjoy."

Eliott looks at Lucas and smiles at him.

"I never noticed that before."

''Anyway,'' cuts Lucas, ''I'm certainly not a serious student. And I'm not planning on being your chaperone. Let's be clear."

Eliott looks at him, like he's really surprised. He walks up to Lucas and starts ruffling his hair.

He's like, "That must be your angel face cheating on the teachers then."

His friends start laughing with Elliot as Lucas tries to keep his face from turning red.

All five of them are going to lunch. Eliott chats easily with the boys and they laugh a lot. Lucas laughs so much that he doesn't really pay attention to his meal and doesn't eat much. Eliott points out to him but tells him to mind his own business. His friends look at him furiously but make no comments. After the meal, they go to the classroom.  
And yes. They have classes. For a week, they will be allowed to ski in the morning, but they will have classes in the afternoon.  
Eliott lets the boys go into their assigned classes but holds Lucas by the wrist.

"what if I took this opportunity to run away?" he says with a smile.

''You're over 18, Elliot. And legally, they can't do anything to me if I lose you, so do what you want."

Elliot's face is getting serious. He even looks sad.

"I'm 19...and maybe you'd rather I got out of here after all, huh?"

Lucas looks around and then his cheeks turn red. He starts whispering.

"No. I really hope you'll be here after class."

Eliott lets go of Lucas' wrist and his smile comes back on his face.

''Okay. I'll see you in a two hours then."

''We have four hours of class, Eliot." Call Lucas back.

''We're skipping the last two.'' says Eliott, winking at him. 

Lucas pretends to be shocked then starts laughing.

"Very discreet... indeed you're the king of the escape."

Eliott walks out into the hallway raising his eyebrows. "Two o'clock, Lucas."

Lucas is having a hard time concentrating on math class, and it's even worse for French class. He makes up his mind when Mrs Frou, the biology teacher, arrives to teach his class.

''My fucking stomach hurts too much,'' Lucas moans as he squats in his chair. He looks at Yann with a grimace of pain.

Yann looks at him then gets up from his chair.

"Ms, Lucas isn't feeling well."

Lucas squats in his chair and explains that he's often ill after long journeys. The teacher asks him to go straight to his room and lie down for a while. Yann offers to come with him but the teacher starts laughing.

''Do you really think I'm going to say yes? Classes are not optional, Yann."

Lucas gets up, bends in half and walks out of the room standing on the walls. Before going through the door, he looks at Yann and a smile appears on his face in spite of himself.  
As soon as he finds himself in the corridor, he straightens up and goes to his room.

Lucas doesn't even know why he's doing this. All he knows is that he finds himself in his room, in front of a surprised Eliott.

"No. Did you do it?"

Lucas looks just as surprised as Eliot. Eliott gets up from Basil's bed, the only non-bunk bed in the room, where he was sitting, and approaches Lucas.

''Why did you do it, Mr. I'm-a-serious-student?''.

Lucas starts laughing and Eliott puts his hand over his mouth.

''Shh. If anyone hears us in the hall, we're gonna get killed."

He takes his hand away and Lucas smiles.

"Then why?"

Lucas shrugs his shoulders.

"Why not? And then I told you I'm not a serious student."

So Elliot climbs up on his bed and sits down and waves to Lucas to join him. "Elliot has to keep his head down and be halfway down so he can stand up without hitting the ceiling, but Lucas doesn't have that problem. Eliott does not fail to point out to him.

''It's still a hell of an advantage to be so small."

''I'm not small.'' Lucas grumbles. ''You look like a giraffe. How tall are you?"

Elliot's thinking.

"6. That's not that tall."

Lucas doesn't tell him he's under 5'5. He's certainly not gonna give him that.

''A baby giraffe.'' Lucas laughs.

''I think of myself more as a raccoon'' Eliott says very seriously.

Lucas is checking him out to see if he's laughing, but Elliot is very serious. He grabs his bag and pulls out the notebook that Lucas saw on the bus.

''I consider him my spirit animal.''

Lucas grabs the notebook that Eliott hands him and opens it. On the first page, a raccoon fights off two wolves. On the second page, he grabs his suitcase and sheds a tear in front of the locked door of his house. On the next page, the raccoon looks sadly out the bus window. Then the raccoon gets very small and faces a lion.

Eliott pulls his notebook out of Lucas' hands, but Lucas gets it back and moves on. The raccoon laughs with a

"I am a hedgehog?" Lucas is surprised.

Eliott retrieves his notebook and puts it away.

"Yeah."

Lucas thinks and then kicks Eliott in the ankles.

"Why?"

And Elliot looks up and smiles.

"With your haircut, are you really asking the question?"

Lucas runs his hand through his hair and laughs.

"And then they're so cute" says Eliott.

Lucas looks at Elliot, wondering if he understands what he needs to understand. Is Elliot flirting with him?  
He doesn't even have time to smile at her when the bedroom door crashes open.

"Guys, last class is cancelled, we're going to get our skis for tomorrow." Basile says before leaving as quickly as he arrived.

Eliott gets out of bed without using the ladder and looks at Lucas, who doesn't move.

"Are you coming?" he asks quietly.

"I don't ski." Lucas simply answers in a tone that calls for no comment.

''Are you coming?'' Repeats Eliot a little louder.

"I don't ski." Lucas repeats just as loudly.

Eliott climbs up the two rungs of the ladder, and his face is inches away from Lucas'.

"You come to snow school and you don't want to ski?"

''Absolutely,'' confirms Lucas, without looking away from the blue-green eyes that look at him. ''Not like I really have a choice to come, anyway."

"You don't want to ski, or you don't know? "

Eliott's voice is so arrogant, Lucas moans and looks up to the sky.

"It doesn't work for me, Demaury."

And Eliott sighs and comes down the ladder.

''Too bad. If you needed help, I'd have held your hand the whole time."

And he comes out of the room. Lucky, because Lucas feels like his cheeks are totally crimson. 

"Damn, Lucas, do you have a fever? "

Imane's voice startled him. She comes into the room and touches his forehead.

"Oh no, you don't sound fever. But you're all red."

Lucas touches his cheeks and breathes softly.

"No, don't worry, I'm fine."

Imane looks behind her and then looks at Lucas again.

"How's it going with Elliot?"

Lucas almost chokes on her own saliva.

"All right, why?"

"Nothing, I know he can be cold and aloof, but he's really nice. I'm sure you two have a lot in common."

Lucas gets out of bed with Elliot and stands in front of Imane...

"Wait, you know him?"

Imane seems to think and then nods his head.

"He was one of my brother's best friends. They went to the same high school last year. But you can't believe the rumors. He's a good guy."

Lucas smiles at him. Imane's a really nice girl, even though she tries not to show it.

"Why was?"

Imane doesn't seem to understand.

"Why was your brother's best friend? Is he not anymore?"

Imane shakes his head.

"No. It seems to be a kissing thing. Guys, always getting angry about girl stuff. But that's all I know. I do not see the point of getting angry over a girl. Especially since Elliot has been in a relationship for 4 years so I don't understand. But maybe it's my brother who wanted to kiss his girlfriend. Frankly, I don't know and I don't want to know. I'm not gonna meddle in my brother's life."

Imane walks out of the room, not even noticing Lucas' sad face. So he imagined everything in his head. Eliott only sees him as a friend. He's already taken. And a long story, too. Lucas gets into bed and lies down, putting his hood over his head.

"Shit, he's asleep."

Lucas isn't asleep, but he's still hiding under his blanket, your head in his hood and hears Yann's voice very well.

''We won't let him sleep. He didn't eat anything this morning and only pecked at lunch. We should"

Eliott's voice sounds worried and Lucas blames himself for imagining all this. To imagine that he could be more than friends with Elliot.

"You know," Arthur cuts him off. "We're used to it. Lucas only eats when he wants. If you don't want to alienate him, you should just leave it alone."

Lucas is smiling into his pillow. His buddies know that food is a sensitive issue for Lucas. That, and sleep. And the scars on his wrists. And his mom... and his dad... Lucas grunts unintentionally. His life is a fucking sensitive issue.

The bedroom door slams shut and Lucas sighs gently with relief.

"Lucas?"

Lucas turns his head and meets the worried look of Eliott who has climbed back up the ladder to be at his height.

"Lucas, are you coming to eat?"

"I'm not hungry" grunts Lucas as he puts his head back in the pillow.

Eliott puts his hand on Lucas' back.

"Please, little Lu."

Lucas is startled and straightens up in bed.

''Don't call me Little Lu. What kind of a nickname is that, anyway?"

And Elliot shrugs his shoulders and smiles...

"I'll call you that all week if you don't show up for lunch."

Lucas grunts and hesitates. But finally he pushes Elliot and uses the ladder to get out of bed. Eliott smiles happily and Lucas taps his shoulder.

"Never hear that again, okay?"

"Promise." Eliott swears as he drags him into the dining room.

Lucas grabs a tray but leaves it almost untouched. He's about to get up with the guys when Eliott's hand grabs his arm, forcing him to sit still.

"What?" He gets mad watching Elliot.

''Are you kidding, Little Lu? You haven't eaten a thing."

"You promised you wouldn't call me that anymore."

Eliott nods his head towards Lucas' tray.

"I said if you're coming over for lunch... You came here, but you didn't eat anything. So I'm waiting."

Lucas sighs and looks up to the sky.

"You're not going to stand here and watch me eat?"

Elliot nods his head, very serious.

"What if I don't eat?"

And Eliott thinks.

"First I'll call you Little Lu for the rest of your life, and then we'll have to sleep here. Because there's no way you're getting out of here without eating."

Lucas rips his arm out of Elliot's grip and gets mad.

''Why the fuck do you care so much? I'm doing what I want, right?"

Elliot seems to be hurt. He moves closer to Lucas and starts whispering.

''I'm worried about you. Because I care about you, Lucas."

Lucas feels the anger building up inside him. He feels his cheeks turn red and knows he can't hold his words back.

''Why don't you go call your girlfriend, Elliot. She must miss you."

And Elliot leaps to his chair and gets up.

''You know what, suit yourself, Lucas. Shit."

Lucas watches Elliot leave. He might feel happy that he won this fight, but he's feeling sad. He's feeling sad because Elliot's gone. And because he hurt him. He shouldn't have to worry about that. He only told the truth. But he feels really bad now.

He pushes his tray back and walks out, wishing he'd just eaten and laughed with his friends like a normal guy.

Eliott's not there when he gets to the room. The guys explain the plan to him. It's ten past 9:00 p.m. In five minutes, a teacher's going to come in to see if they're in bed. At 9:30 p.m, they head, room after room, to the third floor, where the classrooms are.  
Just before Mr Coutan comes to check their room, Eliott walks through the door and jumps under his duvet. Lucas swears he has red eyes but he can't check it because Eliott turns his head in the opposite direction.

At 9.30 pm, Yann is the first to come out of the room. Lucas touches Eliott's arm, who turns towards him surprised.

"Eliott, I"

But Eliott is already rushing down the hall. Of course, the corridors are plunged into darkness. And Lucas hates it. But he clings to Basil's sweetheart walking in front of him and they reach the third floor. 

Behind the fireproof, and therefore soundproof, doors, the students laugh, drink and smoke in the window. Lucas grabs a beer and sticks it in his mouth almost straight away. He takes one of Yann's hands, who brings some back for the whole group and silences him when he tells him to take it easy.  
Lucas leaves his mates, looking for a more... fruity alcohol. He has a tequila beer and is offered a smirnoff. He's finally starting to feel better. 

He finds himself in a classroom where some of the students are dancing and starts dancing with Alexia. His blue hair tickles Lucas' laughing face. He stumbles but catches up with his arm and moves closer to her, more out of necessity to stand up than out of envy. She looks at him surprised and talks to him, but he doesn't hear. She waves him out and he shrugs his shoulders.

"Are you all right?" she whispers in his ear.

He nods his head and raises his thumb. He raises his beer, but it doesn't reach her lips. He looks at her empty, disbelieving hand and realizes that it was Eliott who just stole it from her. 

''It's my beer. Find another one."

His tone is bossy, but Eliott doesn't seem impressed at all.

''Come on, Little Lu, enough drinking for tonight. Let's go."

Eliott grabs his arm, but Lucas tries to get out of the way.

''No, Elliot. I'm having fun."

Eliott takes one look at Alexia who looks at them and gets angry.

"By openly hooking up with Romain's girlfriend?"

...and Alexia hits him on the arm.

"Hey. I wasn't hooking him up. I was asking him if he was okay or if he wanted to go out."

And Elliot looks at him and surprises him.

''Shit. I'm sorry. I thought you was".

And Alexia just laughs out loud and stares at him...

"Jealous?"

And Eliott grabs Lucas's wobbly arm, and this time he lets him pull him out of the room. 

In the hallway, a few students are drinking, but it's much quieter.

Lucas smiles stupidly while looking at Eliott.

"What?" he finally asks, annoyed to be stared at like that.

"Are you jealous?" Lucas is half laughing.

And Elliot looks around. He leans over to Lucas and smiles at him.

"Maybe."

Lucas pushes him away and frowns.

''All right. That makes two of us."

Lucas starts walking down the hallway and stands on the walls so he doesn't end up on the floor. Eliott joins him and holds him by his waist to help him get to their room.

"I hate you, Elliot."

Lucas has a real drunken voice and Eliott doesn't even try to talk to him.

''I hate you for everything you make me feel, you know."

Eliott looks at him but says nothing. He doesn't want to have that kind of talk with a drunk Lucas.

''How much have you had to drink, Lucas?"

Lucas looks at his right hand and thinks and laughs.

"I don't have enough fingers on one hand."

Elliot sighs as he opens their bedroom door. The guys aren't here yet. He helps Lucas into bed, practically carrying him, and takes off his sweater.

''In my dreams, you're undressing at the same time as me,'' mumbles Lucas as Elliot takes his jeans off. ''Please sleep with me. Please'' Lucas begs.

Eliott pulls up his blankets and strokes his cheek. He puts a gentle kiss on it.

"When you're sober, little Lu."

Lucas grunts angrily and watches as Eliott goes upstairs and lies down in bed opposite his.

"Please" begs Lucas.

Eliott grunts but doesn't move. He feels a blow in his shins and doesn't have time to realize what's happening, that the sound of Lucas falling to the ground makes him jump. 

''It's your fault.'' Groans Lucas on the floor.

Eliott jumps out of bed to help him sit up. Their eyes meet and the two boys burst out laughing. 

''I just wanted to come to your bed'' admits Lucas between chuckles. 

Eliott looks at the space between the two bunk beds and laughs. The distance is really not that great.

''That's the problem with being small... Small and drunk."

Lucas hits Scott's chest, puking his guts out. 

''Come back to bed, little hedgehog.'' Eliott says, laughing.

"Okay."

Lucas gets up and climbs up Eliott's bedpost with a defiant look on his face. Eliott climbs up without using the ladder and lies down on Lucas' back, putting his arm around his waist.

"Finally... good night, Eli."

Eliot smiles as Lucas's hair tickles his nose.

"Good night, Little Lu."

Lucas doesn't growl, so Eliot assumes he's already asleep.


	2. Tuesday

Eliott is awakened by the light from the ceiling light coming into his eyes. He lifts his blanket to put his head under it and growls. He opens his eyes and finds himself facing a barely awake Lucas, embarrassed but smiling. 

''Eliott Demaury ''.

His math teacher's voice makes him lose his smile.

"Yes?"

He's hoping the teacher won't come over and see Lucas sharing his bed.

"I'll see you in the infirmary in 10 minutes."

Eliott grunts. Thanks for the discretion.

''Yes, Mr. Coutan. Ten minutes. I'm on my way."

The door slams shut and Eliott sighs and then turns to Lucas who mumbles "I'm sorry."

Eliott sits in bed but bumps his head and Lucas sits down to rub his forehead.

"What's up, guys?" Yann asks in a suspicious voice. "Did you sleep well?"

"Not too tight?" laughs Basile.

Lucas hides his face with his hands and Eliott starts laughing.

"Let's relax, guys. Lucas just got in the wrong bed. I tried to fire him, but he fell down. I felt pity."

The boys start laughing and Lucas looks at Eliott out of the corner of his eye as he jumps out of bed and starts getting dressed.

Lucas feels red coming up to his cheeks and hates his body, which is still blushing. He gets out of bed and looks at his friends.

"So, Lucas, are we looking for comfort?" laughs Arthur.

Lucas gives him a finger.

''Yeah, well, you can't imagine, can you? Eliott is engaged."

"No" corrects Eliott immediately.

Lucas turns to him, astonished.

"No? I was told that..."

"No," says Elliot again, "not for months."

He turns to the boys and goes on.

''That's why I changed schools. My girlfriend couldn't stand it when I left her for someone else. So it was an unrequited crush, but I wanted to prove to her I'd moved on. She encouraged me to do something stupid and it went wrong. So I asked for a change of school. And here I am..."

"Huge!" concludes Yann.

"Fuck" whistles Basile "There's a girl somewhere in the world who refuses to go out with you. Sorry, man, but it's good for my morale."

Lucas hits the back of Basile's table while the guys are laughing.

"It wasn't a girl." Just says Eliott, which stops the boys laughing altogether.

''Eliott, I said 10 minutes.'' nags Mr Coutan as he opens the door again.

Elliot grabs a sweater and leaves the room to join his teacher.

Basile and Arthur are sitting on the bed, silently and Yann is staring at Lucas.

"Fuck, man, you slept in his bed."

Lucas picks up his jeans from the floor, puts them on and turns around to stare at his best friend.

"And?"

''And? What do you mean, and? And he's gonna start imagining things. You heard him, he's into guys, too."

Lucas shrugs his shoulders.

"Wait, don't you care if he thinks he can sleep with you without a problem?"

"It's really stupid what you're saying, Yann. I share my apartment with Mika and that's not why he's throwing himself at me."

"Yeah, well, you were in your boxers in the same bed, Lucas." Yann seems to be panicking. "Fucking Lucas, see what signals you're sending him."

Lucas shrugs his shoulders again, biting his lower lip. He's about to leave the room but Yann stands between him and the door.

"Wait Lucas, are you in a relationship with Eliott?"

Lucas takes a step back.

"No. Of course not."

He looks at his three friends and puts his head down. He really hesitates. Should he take the opportunity to tell his friends what he really is. But is this really the moment, at the very beginning of the journey? What if they take it the wrong way? What if they don't want to share a room with him anymore? If he has to switch rooms now, the whole school will know why. Lucas rolls up his sleeves a little and runs his thumb over his scars. Sometimes it seems so much easier to imagine ending things than having to face the reality of life.  
Yann's hand falls on his wrists.

''Ah no, Lucas. No more bullshit like that."

Lucas raises his head. Yann frowns and looks serious. Arthur and Basile look at them without saying anything, looking worried.

"If you go out with Elliott, it's OK with us." Yann says softly, lowering his sleeves on his wrists.

"No, I'm not with Elliot." Lucas confirms. "But I'd like to... aybe I'll... Surely...Very much..."

Basil and Arthur look at each other in disbelief. Yann takes a step back and Basil takes the opportunity to jump into Lucas' arms.

"Oh, dude," he lets go and hugs him. "Oh, fuck, bro."

Lucas looks up and is amazed by Basil's smile.

"Thanks, Baz."

Arthur comes to join them and turns to Yann.

"Gang hug?"

Yann seems hesitant then looks at Lucas and walks up to them.

"Fucking Lucas. Why didn't you tell us this?" Yann asks once they've split up.

Lucas looks down at his wrists, then pulls his sleeves down and looks at Yann.

''Because it was too hard to admit it to me at first. I just couldn't accept that I was gay. So I preferred to hurt myself. Trying to get it out of me. And then I accepted myself, but I felt like it was too late to tell you. I didn't want you to feel like I'd kept who I was from you. And I didn't want you to let me down."

Arthur grabbed Lucas' back, making him lean forward.

''We fucking love you, Lulu. Nothing's gonna change that."

"It's clear" confirms Yann.

"Ok" said Basilen pushing Arthur away from Lucas' back. "Now it's operation Lucas pick up Eliott."

He looks at Lucas and hesitates. 

Or should I say "Elliott pick up Lucas? How does it work?"

Lucas starts laughing. Basile remains Basile. 

Arthur laughs. "Operation make eliott fall in love."

"I think he's already interesed for our Lulu" concludes Yann.

Lucas looks at him, surprised.

"You think so?"

Yann raises his eyes to the sky.

"Dude! He's been stuck to you since we arrived. He made you skip school. And you did it too. He hasn't let go of you to come to dinner, he almost kidnapped you when he thought you were going to Alexia, which was fun to watch, I assure you... and he put you to his bed. He'd eat out of your hand."

Lucas laughed out loud. The boys look at him like he's crazy.

''Actually, he put me in my bed. But I was drunk and I begged him to come with me. He said, No. So, I wanted to go from my bed to his... but I couldn't get out and I fell down, like shit."

"OK," Basil concludes, "maybe he just pity after all."

Lucas shrugs his shoulders.

"Probably. We're clearly not in the same league. He's a fucking 10."

Basile takes Lucas in his arms and pulls him away so he can look him in the eye.

''You're a fucking 10 too, Lucas. Now, show him you're interested in him and it will be yours."

The boys start screaming when the door opens to Elliot who jumps at that greeting.

''Hey, take it easy, guys. It's just me. Are you coming to breakfast?"

Basile and Arthur go out first, followed by Yann who winked at Lucas.

"Must I make you follow me again, little Lu?"

Lucas shakes his head and smiles.

"No. I'm hungry like a wolf."

He walks past him, letting his hand brush against Elliot's hand just for a moment, like a caress. He smiles as he hears Elliot's breathing get blocked.

Basile turns around just in time to see this and congratulates Lucas as they line up for coffee.

"You're gonna drive him crazy... I love that"

Lucas looks up to the sky. He doesn't even know why he did it. He doesn't even know where he got his confidence. But he's smiling. He's so happy to be himself with his buddies.

The five of them sit down at the girls' table and talk about last night. Apparently, the teachers didn't see anything. They went into the rooms around midnight, but in the dark, they didn't distinguish the pillows replacing the students under the sheets.  
Lucas feels Eliott's knee banging into his. He turns to him and Eliott smiles, a little teasingly.

"Ready to ski, Lucas?"

Lucas shakes his head.

''First of all, I'm not skiing. And besides, I don't have the equipment."

Eliott looks at the guys at the table.

"Is he always this cranky?"

Basil bursts out laughing.

"In the morning? Yes... and at the afternoon too..."

Eliott turns to Lucas and puts his hand on his own.

''Don't worry, I picked up everything you need from the rental booth yesterday. Size 11, huh? So you're definitely coming skiing. Unless you're willing to admit you can't ski."

Lucas stands up and puts his hands on his hips as a challenge.

"OK, Demaury, I'll see you on the slopes."

The table starts laughing and Lucas goes to his room to get dressed. He meets them at the bottom of the resort and Eliott hands him boots, skis and poles.

''See you at the top, Lallemant,'' he laughs as he leaves in front.

Lucas puts on his skis and tries to get his balance before taking the chairlift.

''I love your cat and mouse game.'' Basile laughs as he stands next to him. ''It's like Daphne and me.''

Lucas laughs. He hopes he doesn't. Daphne clearly doesn't want Basile. But he doesn't want to hurt her, so he doesn't say anything. 

As soon as he gets to the top, he sees Eliott waiting for him. He looks positively stunned.

''No. Did you come? I bet you would've chickened out."

n

Even though it's very childish, Lucas lifts a finger, which makes Elliot laugh. And he walks past him and he goes first.  
He immediately regains his automatisms. He slaloms between the stationary skiers, gains speed and leans forward to be able to go faster. He doesn't even look to see if Eliott and his friends are following him. He just feels good. He feels lonely, but in a good way. Like he's at peace with himself. He feels like he could fly.  
When he gets to the bottom of the runway, he ends up on a controlled skid that sends a trail of snow to his left. He's always loved doing that.

''Damn, dude."

Eliott's voice, to his right, startled him. He looks at him and shrugs his shoulders. Eliott hesitates but says nothing.

"Again?" Lucas asks first.

"Fucking yes!"

They share the chairlift this time, but they don't talk.

The second descent is even better. Lucas regains all the confidence he used to have on skis and feels alive. And he does it again, still accompanied by Eliott.

They must be on their ninth descent when Eliott grabs his arm.

''It's time to go home, Lucas. ''

Lucas looks at him in amazement. He walks up to the chairlifts, laughing his way up.

''Since when did you start keeping to the time? Come on, just one more."

And Elliot laughs with him and goes up. But this time, he seems determined to talk.

"Why didn't you want to ski when you know how to ski so good?"

Lucas hesitates.

"Because I didn't feel like it."

"Why not?"

"Because I hadn't done it in a long time. Too long.''

Eliott nods, as if he understands and Lucas doesn't really know why but he's told him what even Arthur and Basil don't know.

''I used to go skiing every winter with my parents. Ever since I was a little boy... I loved it. I felt so free. We'd ski during the day, and at night we'd play and laugh in the cabin. It was like the perfect family. Until about seven years ago. My dad didn't come with us because of his job. Then the next year either. In fact, he never came back with us. His work was actually just an excuse to see another woman. And then my mom is... she's been having health problems so we haven't been here in four years. I hadn't skied since then and I didn't really want to remember all that."

Lucas sighs. He'd never told anyone new. Only Yann knows all this, because he's known him since primary school.  
Lucas sees Eliott raise his gloved hand and puts it on his thigh, but he jumps off the chairlift. He certainly doesn't need pity.

He goes down the runway without waiting for Eliott, trying not to have his eyesight disturbed by his tears. He just missed running over a man so he slows down. When he reaches the bottom of the station, he sits on the edge of a low wall to catch his breath.  
Eliott comes and sits beside him and taps his shoulder against his own.

"Hey, rebel, we're really late now."

Lucas gets up and they go back to the center. They see Mr Coutan waiting in the lobby, looking angry. Lucas prepares to confront him, but Eliott pulls him to the side of the building and shows him a door.  
They enter by the back of the building and go up the corridor to their room to take a quick shower and then change their clothes. When they reach the dining room, Mr. Coutan intercepts them.

"Where have you been?"

''We were taking a shower. Lucas was waiting for me, since I'm not supposed to be alone. Why?" Eliott asks innocently.

The teacher looks at the front door, as if wondering how the boys could get in without going past him and points to the dining room.

"Go and eat, hurry up."

But Lucas is too tired now to eat. He plays with his plate more than he eats, which annoys his friends. He looks at them, black-eyed, so they stop making comments.

''Fuck Little Lu, eat.'' Snarls at Eliott as he elbows him.

''Don't call me Little Lu.'' Growls Lucas.

"So eat. "

Eliot's voice sounds determined, so Lucas grabs his fork and eats half his tray. He pushes him away, looking defiantly at Elliot.

"Happy?"

Eliot stands up but bends over to whisper the most beautiful phrase Lucas has ever heard.

"With you, always."

Lucas looks at his friends, as if to ask them if they heard it right. The smile of wonder on Basil's face says it all.

"You don't need our help at all, actually." says Arthur.

"Who said he needs it?" Yann asks. "My lulu is a big boy. He can take down any guy he wants, anytime he wants."

Lucas smiles at him and they get up together to go to their classroom. After four long hours of class, they can finally go to their room. Having a philosophy class in the middle of a ski resort should be totally forbidden.

"Dibs in the shower," Basil yells as he opens the bedroom door.

Yann and Arthur laugh, and announce that they will join Emma, Alexia and Daphne in their room. While Basile says he'll meet them there in five minutes, Lucas declines the invitation and climbs up on his bed. He takes out his phone and plugs in the headphones.  
He lies on his back, thinking of nothing until a hand grabs one of the headphones.

''Shit, Baz, I don't want to go hang out with the girls.''

But that's not Basil. It's Elliot giggling and wearing the earpiece in his ear.

''Sorry, Elliot. I thought you said..."

Eliott puts his index finger on Lucas' mouth and closes his eyes. The song ends and Eliott gives Lucas back his earphone.

''Not bad. Not my style of music, but not bad."

Lucas steps aside to stand on his elbow.

"And what's your style of music?"

Eliott raises his eyebrows.

''I don't want to scare you. Come on, it's time to eat."

"I'll never be afraid of you, Elliot." Lucas laughs.

He checks the time on his phone. He really didn't see the time go by. He doesn't even try to resist, and he eats with his friends, trying not to catch Eliott's eyes as he look his tray.

After curfew, the five of them leave their rooms in complete silence. They cross the empty dining room and Eliott pushes a door to his right. It is a music room. Some students have picked up the guitars and are playing. It's quite nice.  
Yann grabs a guitar and accompanies them to play. Alexia is already singing.  
Eliott comes back to them with beers but hesitates to give one to Lucas.

"I promise, I'll behave myself tonight." Lucas laughs.

So Eliott hands him a beer and whispers it close to his ear.

"I'm watching you anyway."

Lucas looks him in the eye and takes a sip and smiles. He takes a second sip while Elliot does the same thing. 

After an hour, having drunk only three beers, which is much less than yesterday, Lucas watches Eliott chatting with Mathilde. She keeps touching his arm while talking to him, which seriously annoys Lucas. But Eliott doesn't even seem to notice it. She seems totally absorbed in their discussion. Suddenly, she starts jumping up and down and points to the piano.  
Eliott puts his beer on it and starts laughing. He sits down on the seat and starts to play. It doesn't take long for the students to shut up and only Eliott's music is playing in the background.  
It doesn't take long either for Lucas to recognize the Star Wars music, even though Eliott seems to have a different version of it than the original.

When he finishes, everyone applauds him and he comes directly to Lucas, not even calculating Mathilde who seems disappointed.

"Not bad" said Lucas unimpressed. "I expected better from you, Mr. Artist."

"Because you think you can do better?" attacked Mathilde, who had just joined them.

Lucas wants to tell her to shut up, but Eliott looks at him defiantly and points to the piano. Lucas finishes his beer, gives him the empty bottle and goes to sit down in front.  
He taps a key and realizes that everyone is looking at him. Shit, why does he do that? He lets one finger tap a second key and he hears laughter around him. He looks at Eliott laughing and nods his head.

He lets his fingers run, without thinking. He plays as he remembers. He is carried away by the speed of the music and doesn't even pay attention to the astonished students around him. He plays for his mother, who taught him this piece. He plays for Eliott, because he wants to show her that he can surprise her. And he plays for him. To regain the familiar feel of the fingers as they run across the keyboard. The rhythm of the song slows down and he turns around. Eliott is stunned, looking totally astonished. Lucas feels proud and finishes with a smile.  
If Eliott had been applauded, he would have been cheered outright. He finds himself with a beer in his hands and several pats on the back. 

Eliott watches him come up to him and hasn't even bothered to close his mouth.

"So?" asks Lucas looking at Mathilde.

''Not bad.'' She says, obviously angry.

"Fuck, that was huge." Eliott says, touching her arm. "You're amazing, Lucas." 

Lucas feels his cheeks turn red when Alexia calls him. He turns to her, but he can't help but keep his eye on Elliot from the corner of his eye. 

"Are you coming to my room, Elliot?" Mathilde asks, resting her hand on Elliot's arm.

Elliot smiles at her softly and moves his arm back.

''No. Sorry. I'm going to bed."

Mathilde seems not to understand and moves closer to him.

''Don't worry, you can lie in my bed.''

Her unequivocal tone annoys Lucas. He tries to fix his attention on Alexia talking about the music option at college, but he can't help but see Eliott taking a step backwards, trying to get away from Mathilde.

"Come on, Elliot, let's make the most of the week, huh?"

"He says no, fuck." Lucas yells at Mathilde. "You don't get it or you're doing it on purpose?"

Elliot seems happy and gets closer to Lucas while Mathilde turns red with anger.

"Are you jealous or what, little?" she shouts.

"He's not little" scolded Eliott, visibly angry.

He grabs Lucas' wrist and is about to pull him out of the room when Matilda stands in front of them.

''So what? You're fags?"

Lucas looks her straight in the eye and raises his hand to grab Elliot's cheek, forcing him to turn his head towards him. He tiptoes up and puts his lips on hers. It's just a little kiss, but Lucas feels it all over his body.  
He detaches himself from Eliott who seems surprised and looks at Mathilde.

"Jealous?"

He grabs Elliot's hand and pulls him into the hallway. Lucas lets go of Eliott's hand and starts running towards the service door at the back of the building. He opens it and the fresh air whips his face.  
He moves quickly away from the building, not looking behind him. If he could find something to kill himself with now, he would. But what's gotten into him? Eliott must hate him. How's he going to face everybody in the morning?  
He's so freaked out he can't even feel his arms around his shoulders. It's only when Eliott forces him to turn to him that he realizes he's there and jumps.

''Shit. I'm sorry, Eliott. I shouldn't have done it."

Elliot nod.

''No, that's clear. You shouldn't have."

Lucas tries to back away, but Eliot holds him close, so Lucas looks up at him, lost.

''I should have done that a long time ago.''

Eliott's lips are back on Lucas', for a real kiss this time. That's not shy at all. It's like an explosion of feeling. Their teeth touch sometimes, and they feel the other smile in the kiss, but if you ask them, they'll say it was a perfect kiss.  
Because it was.

Until they hear laughter in the thick of the night and they hear two of their teachers talking as they walk towards them. 

Eliott grabs Lucas, tying their fingers and they go back to their room as fast as they can.  
They are just lying there, each in their own bed when the door to their room opens. Lucas closes his eyes but he hears the teacher coming into the room and walking towards Elliot's bed.  
When the door slams, Elliot moves to the side to look at Lucas.

''It's still not fair,'' says Lucas. ''He only checked on you and didn't even check on the boys.''

''Don't worry, I'm used to it.'' Eliott says softly. ''I wasn't even supposed to be there normally. I knew I'd be watched."

"So why did you come?" asks Lucas.

"Would you rather I hadn't?" Eliott asks teasingly.

Lucas smiles at him and throws his leg to come to Elliot's bed. He launches himself to jump the void but feels falling. Luckily he feels Eliott's hands pulling him to himself.

''Thanks. I can't even imagine a parallel universe where you don't come from." Lucas sighs.

''A parallel universe? Do you believe in that? Lucas the scientist believes there are other people in the universe?"

Lucas shrugs his shoulders and smiles.

''But yes, Mr. Artist, I'm sure there are lots of different universes. And when I make one decision, another Lucas makes another one. That way, with all the Lucas, we all see all the different possibilities."

"Do you think they're all happy?" Eliott asks, putting his hand in his.

''Totally. All Elliot and Lucas, in all the universes." Lucas laughs.

He turn on the side so he can watch Elliot. 

''I'm really sorry, you know.'' Lucas says without taking his eyes off him.

And Eliott turns to face him, amazed.

"For?"

"For kissing you like that, in front of everyone. Everybody's gonna talk about it, and even though I wanted to kiss you, I did it with the wrong intentions. But she just made me so mad."

Eliott presses his lips to lucas'.

"Thank you for saving me from her." He says between kisses. "You're so cute when you're jealous!" He kisses her again, "and who cares about anyone else, right?"

Lucas hesitates.

"No?...If you prefer, we can say it was all a bunch of bullshit just to piss her off."

Lucas seems disappointed.

"You want this?"

Elliot's not hesitating for a second.

''No. But if you don't wanna show your face, I respect that. You gotta be ready, Lucas."

Lucas kisses Elliot and rubs his cheek.

''I think I made up my mind when I kissed you tonight. I just really want everybody to know. I mean, not the teachers, I don't think they should make us switch rooms."

Eliott puts his arm around lucas' waist and holds it tight.

"It's the best part of the trip, being able to sleep next to you. I couldn't have asked for anything better. I should thank Mr Coutant one day."

Lucas frees himself from Eliott's grasp and sits up in bed.

"What are you doing?"

Lucas takes off his sweater.

''I'm not sleeping with my clothes on. You're keeping me warm enough as it is."

So Eliott sits down, doesn't bump, and throws his clothes on the empty bed next to his. He lies back in his boxers and T-shirt, hugging Lucas and kissing him.  
Lucas hoists himself above Eliott and deepens their kiss, while playing with his hair. The sound of the door opening tears a moan out of him, muffled in Eliott's mouth.

"Oh, fuck," exclaims Basile, "it's true, boys."

Lucas stands up, still straddling Elliot and looks at him surprised.

"What's true?"

"Everybody says you're with Elliot." explains Yann.

"Too loud my lulu" cheers Basile. He turns to Yann and Arthur. "Damn, the guy tells us he's gay and that same night we find him in bed getting over the hottest guy in school."

''Baz! ''' groans Lucas.

But Basile's already collapsed into bed and seems to have left already. Arthur tells them that Daphne sent him to the roses and he's been drinking a lot. Eliott starts laughing under Lucas.

''Don't laugh, it's terribly embarrassing.'' Lucas laughs as he lies down beside him.

"And iIt's not the true," concludes Elliot. "You're definitely the hottest guy between the two of us."

Lucas taps him on the shoulder.

"Pfff anything."

And Eliott hugs him and kisses him on the forehead.

"You're definitely the hottest " says Elliot again, holding him close.


	3. Wednesday

"Eliott, I'll be waiting for you in ten minutes."

The door's closing. Basile's growling.

"Sorry, guys, I'll tell him not to wake us up like this again."

Basile grunts a second time. Lucas strokes Elliot's cheek and then kisses him.

''It's okay. Don't worry about it."

Elliot dives into his blue eyes.

"Hey, you."

He kisses him gently and then he looks back at him, like he's surprised to find him there.

"Hello, Eli."

Lucas kisses her back and runs a hand through her hair. They hug each other and Lucas doesn't hold back a moan that escapes as Eliott puts his hand on his belly.

''Oh guys, You're not alone'' Arthur growls from the bed below.

''It's clear'' confirms Yann who gets up from his bed rubbing his eyes ''We're very happy for you. But if Lucas could contain his groans this early in the morning, we'd be just as happy."

Lucas sends his pillow over Yann's bed and watches Eliott get up.  
Eliott jumps out of bed and grabs his clothes before opening the door. He closes it, climbs up the ladder to kiss Lucas and leaves.

Lucas stays two minutes in his bed, in this sweet sensation of happiness.

"Do you know the whole school will be talking about you?" Yann asks softly. "Are you alright, Lu?"

Lucas gets out of bed and smiles at him.

"Yeah."

As he bends over to get his jeans, throws them across the room, Yann grabs his wrists.

''No bullshit, Lucas. You promise? If you can't handle it, we're here. Okay?"

Lucas shakes his hands so Yann lets go and smiles at him.

"I said yes. I promise, I'm done with this. It's ancient history."

"It wasn't even a year ago," Arthur corrects Arthur gently.

"It's ancient history," Lucas repeats. "And not a word to Elliot."

He stares at his three friends with his black eyes.

"Lucas. If you want it to be serious, you shouldn't hide anything from him," says Yann softly.

"I'm not hiding anything", Lucas defends himself, "but I don't have to tell him everything. Not right away, at least. I don't know why he has to go to the infirmary every morning and I don't ask him either."

"I know," says Basile, taunting him.

Lucas looks at him with a wide mouth.

"What? How would you know that?"

Basile shrugs his shoulders.

''I asked him yesterday morning. He told me. ''

Lucas is waving him off.

''I don't want to hear that from you. He'll tell me when he wants to tell me, whatever it is."

Basile jumps on his neck.

''Well done, my lulu. You really are the best. I wouldn't have said anything anyway."

Eliott opens the door and laughs when he sees Basile in Lucas' arms.

"You've been quick to replace me, I see."

Basile laughs as he steps back, "I was keeping the place warm for you,".

Elliot looks at Lucas and reaches out his hand.

"Ready to get in the deep end?"

Lucas intertwines his fingers with Elliot's and they walk down the hall together, not worrying about the other students, only laughing and letting go when Mrs Frou crosses them.  
Mr. Coutan greets them when they arrive in the dining room and Lucas is almost disappointed that they cannot arrive hand in hand with Eliott. But he feels far too many eyes on him to have time to dwell on that feeling.

As he grabs a croissant, Eliott leans over, clutching his torso against his back to grab a loaf of chocolate. As he straightens up, he gives him a gentle kiss on the neck.  
It's only when he hears "oh" and "ah" that he notices that many students are watching them. He smiles and looks towards the teacher's table. Only the maths and sports teachers are talking without any intention to the students.

Lucas decides that he too can make a discreet show of himself. It's kind of fun. So while Elliot pours him a cup of coffee, he gets so close to him that Elliot's leg gets caught between his own. He takes advantage of Elliot's tilted head to draw a line of kisses around his neck.  
Eliott raises his head to look at the teachers, puts down the two cups, catches Lucas' face in his hands and kisses him feverishly.  
The shouts and the agitation around two makes them separate as quickly as possible.

''Really, really subtle guys.'' Yann laughs as he steals one of the coffee cups.

Eliott pours himself a cup and they join Basile and Arthur already sitting down with the girls. Lucas takes a quick glance at some of the tables and he sees smiles addressed to him, thumbs up and above all a lot of students who seem to be hallucinating.

"There's no turning back now," laughs Eliott as he puts his hand on his thigh.

Lucas puts his hand on Eliott's hand and gently caresses him.

"So you are...you two?" Daphne say, pointing at them.

Lucas nods his head and smiles and Elliot sighs a ''Oh, yeah. Finally."

Lucas takes a sip of coffee and looks at Basile laughing.

''Finally? Serious? You just met him yesterday. You're not very patient, man. Good luck Lucas."

Lucas nearly chokes on his coffee and shoots his buddy with his eyes. Eliott burst out laughing, immediately followed by Emma and Alexia.

''I'm super patient. I've been trying for a month to get Lucas' attention, but I can't get it."

"What?"

Lucas' strangled voice makes the whole table laugh, Lucas even if he doesn't lose Eliott's eyes.

''I saw you. The day I arrived. I ran into you in the halls.and since then I've only seen you. I just didn't know how to approach you."

Daphne puts her hand on Elliot's arm.

''Oh, that's so cute. I had no idea Lucas could be so impressive."

"Neither did I." Lucas admits he's surprised, which makes the whole table laugh.

''Most importantly, he was never alone. Every time, he was with one of the guys. So I thought if I came here, maybe I'd get a chance to be alone with him."

"And you paid the teachers to make me your tutor?" Lucas asks jokingly.

''Oh, no. That's just my lucky star, I guess."

"And now you're sleeping in his bed..." Basile concludes, winking at Elliot.

"What?" says Emma, "Do you sleep in the same bed with the guys in the bedroom? It's hot in your dorm..."

''since we arrived'' confirms Basile ''it's so hot...''

Arthur bursts out laughing. "It's clear that the wake up this morning with Lucas moaning, it was hot..."

Lucas points at him and waves to the girls not to listen to him.

''Nonsense. We're just sleeping." He confirms for them.

''I didn't know guys were so cuddly,'' says Daphne in amazement.

''Lucas is very cuddly'' confirms Eliott ''especially when he's been drinking. He's a wonderful little spoon."

Lucas turns to him, cheeks red, and puts his hand over his mouth to shut him up. They stand up to clear their trays. The teachers' table is empty, so Eliott slides his hand into Lucas' hand to leave the dining room.

They all go skiing together. Despite the hour, Lucas and Eliott make one last turn just the two of them, taking advantage of the calm of the chairlift to kiss each other. They go through the service door again before going to shower and change.  
They join their friends to eat and Eliott sits down next to Alexia, in front of Lucas. Lucas is talking with Imane about their biology class yesterday.  
Eliott pushes his tray against Lucas' to remind Lucas to eat. The noise startled the whole table. The boys look at each other, then at Lucas, as if they were waiting for him to get angry. But the latter looks at his tray, intact, and smiles at Eliott as he grabs his fork.

''It's okay. I'm eating. I'm sorry."

They all go back to talking, and if Eliott's foot rubs Lucas' leg while he's eating, no one notices.

They don't have class this afternoon. They have a field trip around Lake Pavin.

Yann looks at Lucas before getting on the bus and tells him that he is going to sit with Emma. Basile manages to convince Daphne to sit next to him and Arthur moves in with Alexia. Imane settles down alone, taking advantage of the two seats to lie down. Lucas naturally finds himself sitting with Eliott. Or even almost sitting on Eliott, because very quickly after the departure, his legs rest on the boy's thighs. They hold hands and chat quietly, daring a few kisses from time to time. It's not as if the teachers care what happens at the bottom of the bus.  
After 45 minutes, they arrive at their destination... Mr. Coutan intercepts Eliott at the bus exit. The students have to split into two groups.

''You're coming in my group.'' He orders Elliot.

Lucas looks at his teacher. Elliot's almost as tall as he is. He comes up smiling, trying to coax him as best he can.

''Don't worry, sir,'' says Lucas. ''I'll keep an eye on him."

"Very closely." Basile confirms as he gets off the bus.

Eliott and Lucas turn around, frowning, but Basile laughs.

''We're all very committed to helping Lucas with his tutoring, sir.''

Mr. Coutan starts laughing and waves to the students to move on. They follow their teacher laughing until they come to a cave.

''Aren't we going around the lake, sir?'' asks Lucas intrigued.

The teacher seems surprised.

''No, Lucas. We're here to watch the bats. Haven't you read the syllabus?"

He turns to his friends and frowns. Of course he's read the syllabus. The one Yann gave him. The one where it said "walk around the lake" in the Wednesday afternoon case.

"I'm going to kill you." he said angrily to Yann.

But Yann laughed and said "Come on, man. I promise I'll be fine. We're here."

Elliot watches the teacher talking to an animator and puts his arm around Lucas to pull him towards him.

"What's going on, Lucas? Are you afraid of bats?"

Lucas is watching Eliott. He seems so thoughtful.

''No. Of course not.'' Lucas whispers.

He doesn't have time to think about whether or not to tell Eliott the truth, have the teacher call them to come put on a helmet. Alexia moans, hoping she doesn't get lice and Basile tells Daphne that she looks great even with the helmet on, so everyone laughs. Everyone except Lucas who is in a panic.  
When they pass the plastic sheeting that closes the cave entrance, Lucas immediately blocks.  
Eliott feels it right away and slides his hand into his own to make him move forward. When the teacher turns around to see if everyone follows, Eliott hides their hands behind his back. Anyway, it is so dark that he probably wouldn't see anything.  
They go down into a gallery and Lucas stops again.

''Lucas, please. Tell me what's wrong." Eliott whispers softly to him, stroking his arm.

''I hate the dark.'' Lucas groans.

He expects to hear Eliott's laughter, but Eliott comes over gently and strokes his cheek.

''Don't worry, I'll be right here with you. I promise you'll have a good time."

Lucas looks at him and smiles.

"This is gonna be hard."

They start walking down the gallery again. Without warning, Eliott pushes Lucas into a dark corner and kisses him before he has time to scream. His lips crash into Lucas' and his tongue finds its own almost immediately.  
Lucas barely gets a taste for the kiss when Eliott pulls him into the center of the gallery and they continue to move forward, just behind their group. Eliott does this several times in a row, almost every time they pass a slightly darker place where he is sure that the teacher won't be able to surprise them.  
They come out of the cave smiling. They didn't hear anything from the visit and didn't see any bats, but it was so exciting to kiss each other like that that Lucas would have stayed in the cave a little longer, after all.  
  
Lucas moved his lips away from Eliott's and couldn't stop his smile from lighting up his face. There are more exciting things than kissing at the bottom of a cave after all. Kissing, while dancing, in the middle of the other students, is really not bad either. Tonight they are on the third floor again and they are dancing, like any couple, while kissing. Eliott lets his hands slide around Lucas' waist and brings him closer by pulling on his belt so he can kiss him again.  
Lucas slides his hand down Eliott's lower back and makes a little moan when his hand touches his lower stomach. Eliott smiles in their kiss, not failing to point out to Lucas that he heard him.  
Lucas looks around him. No one pays attention to them. Eliott kisses his jaw and suddenly it's too much. He grabs his hand and pulls him off the dance floor.

"Where are you going?" Basile asks as they pass him.

Lucas answers with a single eye and Basil whistles a "Have fun... and not on my bed."

Lucas turns around. Okay, now everyone's looking at them. But he doesn't care and leaves, hand in hand with Elliot.

As soon as they get in the room, their lips meet again. Eliott holds Lucas against the wall and grabs his thighs so he can wrap his legs around his waist. He takes advantage of this position to take off Lucas' shirt and kiss his neck. When he bites him gently, Lucas rests his feet on the ground, helps him to take off his top and waves him to join him in bed.  
Eliott is barely lying next to Lucas when he kisses his jaw, bites his lips, kisses his chin and goes down to his neck. Lucas gently bites Eliott's skin and immediately soothes the sensation by running his tongue over it.  
And Lucas starts kissing Eliott again, letting his hands walk over him, while straddling Eliott.  
He unties Eliott's pants button, and lets his hand in so that he can caress him over his boxer shorts.  
He watches Eliott bite his lips to keep his mouth shut and kisses him more deeply.  
Elliot kisses him on his neck, chest, arms, then comes back to his lips and slides his hand up to his trousers which open.  
They stop kissing just to be able to take off their pants and Lucas resumes his position, on Eliott, just in his boxer shorts. They kiss again fiercely, while caressing each other and Lucas can't contain his moans. Neither can Eliott. Normally, they would be super embarrassed to make such sounds, but now they really can't think about it.  
As he lets his hand slip on Eliott's boxer shorts, the bedroom door opens, letting Yann, Arthur and Basile in. Lucas groans in frustration, immediately joined by Eliott.

"Sorry, guys." excuses Arthur. "A fight broke out. It's crazy upstairs. We don't wanna get caught."

"Sorry." Basile repeats with a smile.

Lucas lies down next to Elliot, moaning.

''Oh, fuck. I can't wait to get home."

He meant it softly. But as the three boys start laughing, he assumes he must have said it too loud.  
So Elliot smiles at him and kisses him on the forehead.

''I want to be alone with you too. But I love being able to sleep with you in this little bed."

Lucas hugs him and kisses his chest, which makes Elliot giggle.

"Guys" moans Yann "not when we're here, please. Otherwise, Lucas, you go to your bed."

"Please don't let Emma be right, please." laught Arhur ''our dorm is not the warmest place here."

Elliot starts laughing, holding Lucas even tighter against him.

Lucas falls asleep trying not to listen to the little voice inside him whispering to him that every day won't be as perfect as this one...


	4. Thursday

When they return from the slopes, even later than usual, Mr Coutan is not in the lobby. So for the first time, they come straight home. Eliott heads towards the dining room but Lucas lets go of his hand.

''If we take a shower now, we won't have time to eat'' protests Eliott ''Come and eat.''

''I have to change my clothes. I'm really wet in my sweater."

Lucas turns around, points to his wet back, and Eliott starts laughing again.

"Stop, that wasn't funny."

But Elliot won't stop and Lucas laughs a little bit too. It was funny, all right. He was quietly taking off his après-ski when Basile, out of nowhere, slips a huge snowball down his neck, right under his coat.

''He's gonna pay for this.'' Lucas promises.

And Eliott laughs even harder.

"Judging by the speed at which he took off, it's clear he knows that. Okay. I'll take your meal and wait for you at the table."

After a stolen kiss, Lucas walks into the bedroom,takes off his sweater,his shirt,and grabs some dry ones from his purse. He takes a quick shower, mostly to warm up and get dressed. When he opens the bathroom door, he comes face to face with two guys from Eliott's class. Lucas is startled, not expecting to find anyone in his room. Much less Sam and... No. Lucas thinks about it, but he doesn't put a name to the second one. 

"Hey, Nathan, did you see who that is?"

Nathan... There you go. Sam and Nathan.

"Yeah, but that's our buddy Lucas."

Lucas stops to stare at them and then quickly looks at the closed bedroom door.  
Nathan puts an arm around Lucas' shoulder and Lucas takes it away. They have never spoken to him, he is certainly not their friend. Lucas put his things on Basile's bed and stepped towards the door, a small anxious ball forming in his stomach.

''So, Lucas, how's your week been? Happy?"

"No wonder he's happy." Sam says, "He can fuck all he wants. And watch the guys. You should sleep in the girls' dorms, don't you think, Lucas?"

This time, Lucas has a good feeling in his gut. He takes a second step, but immediately Nathan grabs him by the shoulders and slams him up against the wall.

"What do you guys want?" Lucas asks, trying to sound confident.

''Just explaining things to you,'' Nathan explains.

"We can't have two fags openly fucking in the dorm next door to us... you guys are disgusting!"

Sam spits in his face.

Lucas raises his hand and wipes his cheek. He takes Nathan's arm off his shoulder and tries to step to the door when he gets punched in the stomach.  
He turns around and throws his fist at Sam's nose. The surprised Sam doesn't take the time to cover his face and his nose is bleeding.  
Nathan punches Lucas in the face and he falls to the ground. He jumps on him and punches him again. Lucas tries to fight back, but the other one is much too fast. The blow to his mouth left him tasting blood.  
Lucas curls up on himself, trying to avoid kicking him in the stomach. He only thinks about Eliott, hoping that he will worry about his delay and come to get him. But that doesn't happen. It must have only been a few minutes, after all.  
Nathan, sitting on his chest, laughing. Calls him a fag, tells him he's weak. And that pisses Lucas off. In a burst of adrenaline he pushed Nathan away, making him fall next to him and then got up and walked out into the hallway. Immediately he hears students screaming.  
He took two steps and collapsed, immediately Nathan kicking him in the legs.  
He hears them shouting behind them and finally feels safe, because he recognizes the voice.

Lucas was still panting, but he was pulled off the ground by Mr Coutan, while the sports teacher, Mr Rodrigue, pushed Nathan against the wall. Sam behind them, holding his nose, moaning and bleeding everywhere.

''What the fuck is this?'' shouts Mr. Coutan.

''It's Lucas who started it'' Sam groans.

The teacher turns to Lucas, but doesn't even ask him the question. 

"Sam, Nathan, you're coming with me to the office. Lucas, you go with Mrs Frou, she'll fix you up and then you go eat."

"But he's the one who broke my nose," Sam protests.

"Shut up," shouts Mr. Coutan angrily, "one more word and I'll kick your teeth out too, understand?"

The whole corridor becomes silent and the gym teacher approaches the math teacher to put his hand on her shoulder.

''That's good. I'm fine. I manage," Mr. Coutan says softly.

''No Damien. I'm handling this with Sibyl. You handle Lucas."

"Sorry, Victor." The teacher takes a deep breath. "Okay."

Lucas looks at him with his eye starting to swell and smiles at him. Mr Coutan puts his hand on his shoulder and gives him a sorry smile.

Lucas follows him to the infirmary. He sits on the chair while the teacher opens the cupboards and pulls out a first aid box.  
He cleans the underside of Lucas' eye and his arch and then strips him. He sprays water on his cut on his lip and asks him to lift up his T-shirt to assess the damage. Bruises are already appearing.  
As he is about to get up, the teacher signals to Lucas to remain seated.

''I swear I haven't started,'' Lucas promises.

He puts his hand on Lucas' knee to stop him from beating the floor.

''I know, Lucas. We know exactly what's going on here."

Lucas looks at him but doesn't say anything.

''We know you and Elliot are in this together.''

This time, Lucas can't hide his surprise. It makes his teacher smile.

''Really, Lucas? Did you think you'd pass unnoticed in the middle of a school trip?"

Lucas shrugs his shoulders.

''We didn't believe anything, sir. We didn't plan this." Lucas says, lowering his gaze to his hands.

''This is very serious, Lucas. What they did to you. Do you want to talk about it?"

Lucas shakes his head, tears at the edge of his eyes.

''I've been through it too, Lucas. I know how much it hurts to get hit because of who you are."

Lucas looks at his teacher differently. Should he have known that? Shouldn't he have a gayradar like Mika?

"I didn't know." he whispers.

This time Mr Coutan starts laughing.

"Fortunately. I'm your teacher. I'm not supposed to talk to my students about my personal life... And I hope you understand that we can keep it between us."

Lucas nods, whispering a "of course".

''Not that I'm ashamed.'' He continues, ''but it is my private life. So I don't have to justify myself to my students... Anyway, it's not about me, it's about you. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I think I'd like to find Elliot." Lucas said simply, wiping away a tear from the edge of his eye.

Mr. Coutan gets pensive.

"Eliott, huh. I never would have believed it."

"That he's gay?" cuts Lucas off.

"Oh, no. It's not like we're choosing. It's just that you guys are together. But opposites attract. You're certainly gonna be very beneficial in his life."

''He's good for me, too. You just have a false image of him. Besides, it's not like you get to choose who you fall in love with."

Mr. Coutan smiles at her and then puts on a serious face. 

''Okay. Get ready for him to freak out a little bit. It's always hard to know that your boyfriend's been beaten up. When Vic found out about me, he almost killed the ones they did. That could have been really bad. And I'm sure that Eliott could do the same."

Mr. Rodrigue appears at the same time.

''The two boys confessed to looking for Lucas because they saw him at the party last night and they can't stand the idea.''

Lucas looks at Mr Coutan, he's not even surprised by the party hint.

''We know everything that's going on here, Lucas. The students think they're clever, but they're not. Besides, since they can't buy booze, there's no problem, right?"

Lucas is certainly not going to tell them that the students all brought in liquor. But it's kind of fun to see teachers in a different light.

Mr. Rodrigue puts one hand on Lucas' shoulder.

''They'll be gone by tonight. Their parents are coming to pick them up. In the meantime, they're in lockdown. They'll go to the school board on Monday. We'll take care of this with great importance, Lucas."

Lucas doesn't really know what to say. He didn't expect the boys to be kicked out of the stay. He's not even sure if he's happy about it or not. He just didn't want it to happen.

''Thank you. Can I go eat now?"

The teacher takes his hand off his shoulder and opens the door to let Lucas out. The door isn't fully closed when Lucas hears him say, "How you doing, baby?"

Lucas smiles even though it hurts his lip. It's so weird to think of Mr. Coutan calling himself "baby". Knowing the famous Vic is Victor Rodrigue is also weird. They're so different...but opposites seem to attract for them too.

He meets several surprised looks as he walks up the corridor. When he enters the dining room, Basile is the first to meet him.

"What the fuck is that?"

"Where's Elliot?" asks Lucas worried.

"The guys are all looking for you. We've been waiting 20 minutes for you, Lucas. What happened?"

Lucas feels arms around his waist and he can't hold back the startled feeling it causes.

"Where have you been, little Lu?" Eliott asks quietly.

Lucas turns around and Elliot's face is decomposing.

''What the fuck is that? Lucas? "

Lucas looks around. Everybody's looking at them. He grabs Elliot's hand and pulls him down the hallway to their room. Basile follows close behind, joined by Arthur.

Yann paces when they get to the room.

''Damn Lucas. I thought you did something stupid'' shouts Yann when he opens the door before looking at his face. "What's that, Lucas?"

The door slams behind Arthur and Lucas collapses in tears against Elliot's chest. Eliott holds him as tight as he can and strokes his hair.

''I'm here, Lucas. I'm here. Yann, go tell the teachers." Eliott asks.

''No.'' moans Lucas. 

He steps back, wipes his tears and breathes in gently.

''They already know. They stopped them. They're being kicked out of the living room and are going to a disciplinary hearing."

"Who?" Yann asks. "Who did this to you?"

Lucas looks at Eliott and grabs his arm.

"Promise me you won't do anything, Eliott."

"No," says Elliot, his voice hard and dry.

"Please." Lucas groans.

''Damn it, Lucas, I can't promise you I'm not gonna do anything. Who did this to you?"

"Lucas?" asks Yann impatient.

"Seniors." Lucas simply says.

"Which ones?" Eliott's voice is always so dry.

"Sam and Nathan."

Elliot looks at Yann, Arthur and Basil and nods his head.

Eliott takes Lucas from his arms and carries him into Yann's arms. Lucas protests but Yann holds him. When Eliott opens the door, Mr Coutan and Mr Rodrigue are just in front. 

"Eliott, so predictable" says Mr Coutan.

"Let me, damn it" shouts Eliott.

But the teachers push him back in the room and have brought out the three friends out. Lucas waves to Elliot to come sit with him on Basile's bed.  
But Elliot paces up and down in the middle of the room. He looks at Lucas and clenches his fists. All his muscles seem tense, like he's about to burst into anger.

"Do you want to go out for a walk with me, Eliott?" Mr. Coutan asks softly.

Eliott doesn't even raise his head.

''No. Don't try to be nice to me now. I just want to kill them."

"I know." said the teacher softly, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't touch me," he shouts as he comes out, "you don't know anything."

Lucas looks at his teachers and Mr Rodrigue puts his hand behind Mr Coutan's back. 

''I got beaten up when I was 19 for the same reason,'' the teacher just says, ''so yeah, I understand. Even though I was hoping that by 2020, I wouldn't have to deal with this anymore."

Eliott stops and looks at him and then looks at Mr. Rodrigue, as if that's the only time he realizes he's there. 

"You?"

"We're married." confirms Mr. Rodrigue with a smile. "But this is our private life, Elliot. We don't want all the students to know about it."

''Personally, I don't want to be in a closet'', says Eliott, in an angry voice, ''I'm not ashamed to show who I'm in love with.''.

"Eliott!" calls Lucas in an outraged voice.

Eliot is startled and turns to him.

''They just want to help us. Please, Elliot. Calm down."

Lucas opens his arms and Eliot runs across the room to huddle in it, crying.

''I'm sorry, Lucas. I should have been there. Fuck, I was laughing with Basile while you were getting beaten up. It makes me sick."

Lucas is gently stroking his hair and squeezing him. 

''Shh. I'm okay. We're gonna be fine, Elliot. It's just a meteorite in the universe."

Eliott starts laughing as he wipes away his tears.

''In some other universe, I swear I'm here to protect you, Lucas. And in another universe, I'm here to comfort you, not the other way around."

Lucas is laughing and gently kissing Elliot's lips. Then he remembers the presence of their two teachers.

''Okay. If it's better, we'll leave you two alone."

"No," Eliott asks, causing Lucas to be surprised. "I need my medicine."

Mr. Coutan nodded his head and motioned for him to follow him.

''You're both excused from class. Lucas, you're resting. Eliott, you look after him. We're not gonna lie to each other. We've never had to deal with a gay couple on a school field trip before. The headmaster has requested that you be moved to another room. But I'm certainly not going to send either of you to the girls' dorms. I can't believe he would propose such nonsense. So you leave the bedroom door open, okay?"

Lucas nods and the teachers come out, accompanied by Eliott.

When Elliot comes back five minutes later, Lucas is lying in his bed.

"I brought you some food," Eliott says softly, brushing his cheek.

''I'm not hungry.'' Lucas grunts.

"I know my love. But please. For me."

Lucas sits on the bed and eats a yogurt and a bun. Eliott cleans up and then comes to lie down on his back, being careful not to touch him on his stomach where the bruises are present.  
They fall asleep almost immediately. 

Eliott wakes up feeling Lucas move back to be closer to him.

"Lucas?" he whispers, not knowing if Lucas is still asleep.

"Yes, baby?"

"Baby?"

Lucas turns around and smiles and gives Elliot a hug.

"You're my baby giraffe, remember?"

And then Elliot hesitates and gently lays his lips on his, trying not to touch his cut.

''I'm really sorry, Lucas. I feel so bad. If we'd been more discreet. I shouldn't have forced it on you, and..."

Lucas puts his finger over Elliot's mouth.

"For the record, I kissed you first, in front of everyone."

And then Elliot kisses his finger before he pushes it away.

"Yeah, but..."

''But nothing. That's me. I've made up my mind. And I don't regret it. I don't want to hide anymore. If anybody else has a problem with that, if anybody else has a problem with us, then we'll just tell fuck them."

''I wish I could have been there to defend you.'' Eliott says as he hugs Lucas.

''Hey. I fought back," Lucas protests. "There's still Sam's blood on the hallway wall. I sprayed that homophobic little homophobe kid's nose."

And Lucas tells Elliot the whole story, this time without crying.

''Did he really say he was gonna kick his teeth out?'' Eliott is surprised.

"I swear to God. It was like he was crazy." Lucas laughs softly as he thinks of his teacher ready to punch a student.

''Shit, he's goes up in my esteem."

Eliott seems to be thinking, and that makes Lucas smile.

''Frankly, I think he's a great guy. But to us, right now, he's just another teacher."

''A teacher who's had me on a short leash since I got here.'' Eliott grumbles, ''even though I know I've earned this because of my bullshit...''.

Eliott takes a deep breath and looks Lucas in the eye.

"Lucas, I have to tell you the truth."

The boys come into the room, startled them. They check on Lucas and Yann announces he tried to hit Nathan when his parents came to get him but he was held up by the teachers. He was rather disappointed, but Lucas told him he preferred it. There's been enough bloodshed for a love story.

"You're so tragic, Lucas!" Yann moans, "Come on, let's eat."

"We'll be there in two minutes." says Eliott.

"Okay. In three minutes, we'll come to pull you out of bed," promises Arthur as he walks out the door.

The silence in the room is getting heavy.

"Then" finally says Eliott.

"Eliott, you don't have to." Lucas said, stroking his cheek.

''Yes, I do. It's important. I want you to know everything about me. Actually, I'm bipolar, Lucas."

Lucas is smiling. His cleft lip hurts, but Lucas is smiling.

"That all?"

''What do you mean, that's all? Lucas? Did you hear that?"

"Yes. And?"

"And" Eliott looks surprised and looks at Lucas to see if he's got it right.

"And?" Lucas repeats, "I don't care, Elliot. I could have imagined so much worse."

"So much worse?" asks Elliot.

''I thought you had an incurable disease, like cancer, kidney problems, I even thought you had a transplant and it was anti-rejection drugs...''

Eliott stands up on the bed looking sad.

''It's an incurable disease, Lucas,'' he says softly as if not to scare Lucas. He looks at him then looks down and adds ''I can't always control it.''

"I know." Lucas says, sitting down in turn, grimaced in pain.

''I don't want to put you through this, Lucas. But I'm too selfish to let you live your life without me."

''And I won't let you,eli. I know what it means to be bipolar and I don't care. We'll laugh together about your quirks, I'll hold you in my arms when you can't get out of bed. I'll be there, Elliot. As long as you want me. Minute by minute, day by day, year by year. In all the universes."

"Basile told me about his mother and he said it wouldn't make any difference to you."

"Nothing at all," confirmed Lucas as he kissed her.

''Oh, guys, it's been three minutes! Dinnertime'' screams Arthur.

The boys walk to the dining room, hand in hand. They take their trays and help themselves. Lucas is really not hungry, but he knows that if he doesn't eat Eliott won't leave him alone so he gets a pizza.  
He feels all eyes on him without even lifting his head, as if he feels how Eliott is growing up next to him, probably unconsciously, as if he wants to defy the slightest person who would say a wrong word. 

He puts his tray next to Yann and taps Eliott's abs.

''Stop being a rooster, Eliott. I don't need a bodyguard."

And Elliot laughs as he puts his tray down. Emma sits across from Lucas, and he looks up when she calls out for him. She has a rainbow flag drawn on her cheek. Lucas smiles and gives Eliott an elbow while nodding his head. He sees his smile get bigger when he notices the flag. Lucas looks at Daphne who is talking to Basil, the same flag on both their cheeks. He looks at Imane, Yann and Arthur. They all have a rainbow flag on their right cheek. Only Alexia stands out. She has a pink, purple and blue flag. But that's no surprise, everyone knows she's bi.

''You guys really are the best buds in the world,'' says Lucas.

''Love is just love'' says Imane. ''No one should ever judge that.''

His words resonate with lucas who smiles as much as he can with his cut. He eats everything he has on his tray and Eliott shakes his hand, showing him he's happy.

"Shall I make you one?" asks Alexia, her makeup palette in her hand.

"Absolutely!" says Lucas.

Alexia traces it softly and Lucas is happy the other jerk hit him on the left.

"Eliott?"

Oh, yeah. He shifts his chair to face Alexia, but stops his hand before she touches him.

"You're giving me the pan flag, please?"

"Pink, yellow, blue, it works," says Alexia, picking up her brushes.

Basile approaches Elliot and whispers in his ear. Eliott starts laughing.

''It means I'm falling in love and I don't have to ask questions. I listen only to my heart without any limits. 'A girl, a guy, someone non-generic, a transgender...''...

"A Lucas" laughs Basil.

"A Lucas" confirms Eliott by kissing him. 

Lucas sees Mr. Coutan getting up on his chair and elbows Mr. Rodrigue. He follows their gaze and sees Maxime, Sam's best friend coming towards them. Eliott sees him too and he stands up when he arrives at their table, immediately imitated by Yann and Arthur, then Basil when he takes his eyes off Daphne and realizes the situation.  
Maxime raises his hands as a sign of peace.

''I just came to tell you that I didn't know anything about it. I'm really sorry, Lucas. I never would've let him do it if I'd known. I'm not okay with this at all."

''It's easy, now that he's fired, to flip him over,'' Eliott says sternly, fists clenched on the table.

''Damn, man, I'm not kidding. My aunt's married to a woman. I'm not a fucking homophobe, okay. And frankly, I didn't think Sam was. I swear, I didn't. I'm really sorry, Lucas."

Lucas pulls eliot's arm to sit up and smile at maxime.

''You're not responsible for other people's mistakes, Maxime. But thank you for having the courage to come and tell us that."

"Alexia?" 

And the whole table turns to Alexia's ex-boyfriend Clara... She's a senior with Elliot. 

"Will you do me one, please?" She points with her index finger to the flag on his cheek...

"Me, too, please." Alex says, before she explains, "I'm not gay, am I? But I support you guys."

"And me." asks a sophomore girl.

"We're gonna need more make-up," laughs Alexia.

And as Lucas looked on in amazement, students lined up at their tables to get a flag. Some of them tell Lucas they're sorry. Some tell Lucas and Elliot they're too cute. Others say nothing but all show their support.

The teachers look at them out of the corner of their eyes but make no comments. 

Tonight they are supposed to party at the library but Lucas doesn't really want to go. The guys try to convince him gently but he ends up declaring that he prefers to have fun alone with Eliott and his wink makes the boys leave immediately. Eliott starts laughing in front of the stage. He puts his hands around Lucas' hips and puts his head on his shoulder.

''I dream where you just told them we were going to have sex in a bunk bed in the middle of a school trip. And they gave you a free pass on top of that!"

Lucas turns to face Elliot and puts his hands on his neck.

"They'll believe anything. It's not my fault."

And Eliott kisses Lucas, calling him a "wonderful actor" and drags him to bed after closing the door.

Lucas takes off his sweater and jeans, then looks at Eliott and takes off his shirt without taking his eyes off. He sees Eliott's face decompose. Lucas lowers his eyes on his own body and sees the bruises he had forgotten.

''Shit. I just wanted to warm you up. I'm sorry."

Lucas is squirming as he tries to put his shirt back on. Eliott grabs the shirt and throws it at Basile's bed.

''I told you. The hottest one of us all."

He kisses him, holds him up against the bedpost, and then he lets him get up there. Eliott takes off his clothes, keeping only his boxer shorts on, and goes upstairs to him.  
Lucas moans painfully as Eliott leans over to kiss him.

''Shit, I'm sorry, my love. I hate this."

He tries to move back as far as he can to the edge of the bed, but Lucas is holding him tight. 

''You're doing me more good than it hurts, baby.''

Elliot laughs. No, he probably won't get used to being called "baby". Lucas kisses him while he climbs on top of him. Elliot tightens up. Given their position, Lucas certainly feels how extremely hard he is. Besides, Lucas is readjusting a little because of that.

''Lucas. I don't want us to... I mean, I do, but not here." Stammers Eliott.

Lucas stands up and looks at him and smiles.

''I know. I don't want us to do that either. But we can just have fun, right?"

"Fun?" Eliott asks, raising his eyebrow.

Lucas lets his hands run across Elliot's chest as he kisses him on the mouth, cheeks or neck. 

"Stop me if it's too much," says Lucas very seriously.

"You too," only says Eliott. 

Lucas kisses him and lets his hand go down on Elliot's boxer shorts. He caresses him through the fabric, happy to see his breathing changing and his body bending unconsciously to ask for a little more. And Lucas wants a little more, so he frees Eliott from his boxer shorts and gently caresses him while kissing him. Eliott caresses Lucas through his boxer shorts and Lucas realizes that his breathing becomes completely disordered. Eliott puts his hand in his boxer shorts and caresses him, without releasing him, which is really exciting.  
Lucas stands up to remove Eliott's boxer shorts completely, and his own at the same time. He lies down on Eliott and their two lengths touch each other, side by side. Eliott surrounds Lucas' waist with his legs and takes them off as quickly as he sees him wincing.

''Sorry. Sorry."

Lucas kisses him and slips his hand into Eliot's hand. Eliot's other hand comes down from his hair on his lower back and rhythms the movement of Lucas's pelvis as he rubs it against Eliot. Eliott's hand slides around them and he caresses them at the same time. Lucas moans, trying to muffle the sounds in Eliott's mouth or neck but he is not very discreet either.

''Fuck yeah, just like that...''

The sounds they make turn them on almost as much as Eliot's hand. Lucas makes a kind of a hoarse groaning sound as he comes over Elliot's chest, and that sound makes Elliot come tilting his head back, a deep sound coming from his chest.  
Lucas slumps down on Eliott without any concern that their bellies are wet. They kiss softly, intertwining fingers.

They freeze directly when they hear the door handle.

''Damien. Damien. Leave them alone. They're probably asleep. And then if they're not, let them find comfort after this shitty day. Just tonight."

''Vic, we could get in trouble with the director. He said not in the same room."

"Dam. He's an asshole. We're not gonna send a gay boy to the girls' dorm. And you know it. And then what problems? Poor Lucas doesn't have any family. And Elliot... his parents would never get us in trouble for his behavior. Come on baby, leave them alone. Tonight."

''Just tonight. Tomorrow the door stays open."

And Elliot took the opportunity to put the blanket over the two of them. He's slowly shifting it so Lucas can lie down next to him. 

"I have a family," whispers Lucas.

"Shh..." whispers Eliott, stroking his cheek. "Don't listen to him. He doesn't know anything about your situation."

"And neither do you," Lucas says quietly, looking at him. 

Eliott shrugs his shoulders, letting a little smile appear on his face.

''You know my daddy's gone off with his new family.'' Lucas begins.

Eliott nods.

''Lucas, you really don't have to say anything.'' Eliot says softly.

Lucas kisses him and puts his hand on his ribs.

''I want this to be serious, Elliot. Both of us."

"It is serious." Eliott immediately takes him back.

Lucas nods his head and smiles and moves closer to Elliot.

''So my father is gone. My mother is schizophrenic. She thinks the apocalypse is coming and she has to save us. She's been in the psych ward for a year now because I couldn't handle it all anymore. Her, school and the house."

''Jesus, Lucas, what did you have, 16? It wasn't your job to deal with all that."

Lucas sighs.

''It's been like that since I was 15. I lasted a year, and then I went fucking nuts. My family situation, plus the fact that I was attracted to guys and didn't wanna be any more different from people. I was afraid of being rejected, afraid of being alone. So I..."

Lucas is having second thoughts. Eliott gently caresses the scars on his wrists.

"Who told you that?" Lucas asks, accusingly ''Yann?''

''What? No. No one Lucas. I have eyes. I look at you, you know. I saw your scars on Monday when I helped you take off your sweater. I know what scars like that mean."

"That I had given up," Lucas whispers sadly.

''No. That you needed help. It's a cry for help. It's not a suicide. When you want to end it, you cut the other way, and you know it as well as I do, Mr. Scientist."

Lucas is looking at him like he's finding out for the first time.

''You seem well informed on the subject.'' He says softly, frowning.

Eliott raises his left arm and Lucas looks at his tattoo. He discovered it Tuesday when they stood up in their shirt. It's a long paintbrush going from his wrist to the middle of his forearm. 

''We all have scars, Lucas. But that's what scars are for. It reminds us that despite our wounds, we heal."

Eliott takes Lucas' hand and puts it on his tattoo. Lucas immediately feels the thin scar that extends under the tattoo. He looks up at Eliott who bites his lip.

''Oh, Elliot."

And Elliot kisses him as if to tell him he's okay.

''It's just a scar, Lucas. I had it covered up because I couldn't stand people knowing what I'd done."

Lucas nods.

''It was my first episode. My first manic episode. I was 15 years old. I was a Pink fan."

Lucas smiles in spite of himself and Eliott kicks him out.

''Don't laugh. I was a really, really big fan. I bleached my hair. I shaved off the sides of my hair to get his crest. I even dyed the ends of the ends pink."

"At 15?" Lucas asks in shock.

''Yep. All that in less than a week. I memorized all of his songs. And then I wanted to make it like the "Fuckin perfect" music video. I lay in the bathtub and formed a T and a C in my arm before my mom came home from work and found me floating in my own blood, slitting my wrists singing."

Lucas has his mouth open and Eliott wonders how he even breathes, he's so quiet.

"Hey, Lucas, you said you'd never be afraid of me." Eliott says, trying to make a joke.

"I'm not afraid of you," corrects Lucas immediately, "but I am afraid for you."

He hugs Elliot, who's sure it hurts Lucas because of his bruises, but he doesn't care.

"I can assure you," Eliott finally says, "that was my worst crisis ever. Since I've been on the meds, I've been getting better. And then I can feel my seizures sometimes. But not all the time. I try to do the best I can."

"I know." Lucas kisses him, "I know."

Eliott runs his hand through his hair and sighs. 

''Shit. We were just talking about you, and I've been hogging the conversation. I'm sorry."

''Oh, no, I was almost done. That was a year ago, my bullshit, man. It was Yann who found me. Well, at least I wasn't in a bloody bathtub singing."

Lucas said it all natural and Elliot's laughing. It's so good to be able to laugh at everything with the one you love.

''His parents helped me commit my mother and I was followed because of that... ...and because I wasn't eating enough. I'm not anorexic. But when things aren't going well, or when things are going too well, or when I'm tired... well, I don't eat."

"That's over, too," Eliott says softly and Lucas nods.

''Then a friend, Manon, offered me to take her place at the roommate because she was moving to London. I've been living with Mika ever since. He's your age, he's 200% gay and he's 200% exuberant but I love him... although you'll never tell him I said that. And Lisa, Manon's cousin who's always vegetating either in her room or on the sofa. She asked me again last week who I was...I see my mother when she's better but otherwise, they're my family. Them and the guys and the girls... and you now."

Eliott smiles.

''My parents are all I have, but they're gonna love you. I'm sure they will."

Lucas is pouting.

"You think so?"

"Nice guy, well-behaved, good in school, good scientist... ...they'll probably want to adopt you and send me to the roommate instead."

Lucas starts laughing.

''There's no way I'm leaving you alone with Mika. He'll make up a fake tradition where he hugs you every morning... ...and possibly shirtless. He'll never resist that..."

And Lucas' eyes run through Elliot's body as he smiles. 

"Stop it, Lucas."

Lucas laughs at how embarrassed Elliot is to be looked at naked.

"You're so beautiful, baby."

"Guys, we're here," Basile whispers as he opens the door, "no more hugs."

"Baz!" grunts Lucas as he hugs Elliot, "Shut up."

"I love you too, Lulu. Sleep tight up there."

Lucas is startled when he gets a cloth over his face.

"My bed is not a garbage dump for your clothes." Basil snickers.

The boys burst out laughing as they apologise and fall asleep in each other's arms.


	5. Friday

For the first time since the beginning of the week, Eliott stands in front of the infirmary at 8:30 am without Mr. Coutan having to come and wake him up. It was so much better to get up early and take advantage of the fact that the boys were all asleep to take a shower with Lucas.  
Well, it could have been awkward when they came out of the bathroom and the room was empty. But right now, Elliot doesn't care. Lucas is standing next to him, hand in hand.

"You're up bright and early," laughs the teacher as he comes up behind them. "How are you, Lucas?"

"Good, thanks." Lucas replies before he lets go of Eliott's hand so he can get his medicine. 

And then they leave together to have their breakfast. It's their last day. At 2:00 p.m., they have to get on the bus and go back to Paris. 

''So, you see, we made it.'' Yann told Lucas.

''Did what?'' asks Lucas, dipping his spoon in his cereal.

"You don't want to go home." Yann says.

Lucas smiles then looks at his friends. They are happy and so is he. 

"It's true."

He's come a long way in 5 days. He's had time to come out, to find a wonderful boyfriend, to get beaten up and to sleep naked with his boyfriend...

''It's a good thing we motivated you to come.'' Basile says.

"I can't imagine a world where you haven't been." Eliott laughs in the crotch of his ear.

Lucas kisses him and then the whole table gets up to get ready. They have to be back by noon to clean their rooms and eat before they leave. 

All the friends ski more or less together. Basile is still not really at ease, so Daphne helps him and they leave for the easy slopes with Emma and Imane. Alexia and Yann take the intermediate middle, while Arthur follows the couple on the hardest slope.  
Arthur proposes to race and goes first. Eliott and Lucas look at each other with a smile on their faces and set off in pursuit. Lucas feels his wings sprouting. He is so happy. Even yesterday's fight can not spoil his good mood. He goes down as fast as he can, letting his reflexes guide him, slaloming between slower skiers, taking small bumps just for fun.  
When he reaches the bottom, he skids and waits for his friends. Eliott arrives second, laughing as he tells Lucas about Arthur's fall and the latter arrives grumbling.  
They start again several times, Lucas being always in the lead.

"You have to cheat," Arthur grumbles as he returns to the center.

"Pfff...as if I could." Lucas laughs. "I'm just better."

"You're definitely the best," confirms Eliott.

Arthur moans.

"Oh, man, no. Don't be marshmallows like that."

And Elliot laughs and looks at Lucas.

"I think he's jealous."

Lucas looks at Arthur and nods.

''Totally, baby. Very jealous."

Arthur moans a second time.

"Baby? He does? Oh guys..."

Arthur looks at them desperate and leaves the lovers smiling as they kiss. 

After returning the rental equipment, the five boys go to their rooms to pack. Everything is in a good mood, until Arthur finds a pair of boxer shorts, apparently stuck between his bed and the wall.

"Sorry, mate," excuses Lucas, his cheeks red, "I've been looking for him everywhere."

"Fucking hell, boys," Arthur moans, "you must be looking forward to going home and enjoying your room, Lulu."

"And then you tell us all about it." Basile goes on. 

Lucas hides with an even redder face in his hands.

"What? No way Baz"

Eliott laughs as he finishes closing his bag.

"Oh, Lulu, don't be a prude," Basile laughs as he lies in bed.

"I reassure you," says Elliot, putting his bag by the door. "That's really not an adjective to describe him."

Lucas hits him on the arm and the boys start laughing.

''OK,'' says Basile. ''Actually, it's Eliott who's going to be your couple's spokesman. Besides, it's not like you didn't hear moaning in the shower this morning. You're really good at hiding your game, Lulu."

Eliott's pulling Lucas against him. His cheeks are burning so red.

"So what?" Eliott just says, "Nothing wrong with that, right?"

"None," laughs Basile, raising his hands. "I'm just happy for you. You deserve it, Lulu."

Lucas looks at his buddy and smiles at him. Basil is really special, but Lucas really likes him. Like a brother.

"Eh Baz" intervenes Yann, putting his bag next to Elliot's. "You haven't even started packing. Hurry up a little."

They've only got time to eat, it's already time to leave. Eliott grabs his bag and Lucas', despite his protests, and throws them into the hold. They're waiting to get on the bus.  
Right next to them, the girls of the seconds make a kind of gathering around Mr. Coutan. It's quite usual. He's the most admired teacher in the school and almost all the girls talk about his beautiful smile and his well-designed body. But today it makes Lucas smile. Because he knows that the teacher doesn't care if the girls like him or not. It must even be annoying, in the long run.

''You must miss your wife.'' Said one little brunette.

Lucas laughs. Now, that's a hell of a way to find out if he's single.

"No," the teacher just says. 

Lucas sees him turn his head to look at Mr Rodrigue putting his bag in the hold. He sees him turn his gaze to him and Eliott. He holds Eliott's gaze for a few seconds and Lucas is sure to see him take a little breath.

"My husband is here with me, so I didn't miss him."

The girls couldn't be more shocked. And Lucas can't help but notice the huge smile on his teacher's face. He's looking at eliott, wondering if he heard, but he doesn't have to ask. Eliott has the same smile on his face. And Mr. Rodrigue too.

The girls start yelling, "Oh, my God." "Oh, that's too bad. ''Oh dear...''.

Mr. Rodrigue walks by, and Lucas wonders if he's dreaming when he hears her whispering ''Thank you guys.'' But Eliott confirms that he heard it too.  
Lucas watches him join Mr. Coutan, always surrounded by giggling girls.

"Is that you, sir?" asks a blonde.

Mr Rodrigue nods and waves them on the bus.

"Are you really married?" asks the brunette.

Mr Rodrigue laughs and raises his left hand.

''Yes, really. In all legality, since the law authorizes it. We'll celebrate our 7th anniversary this year."

The girls giggle again and get on the bus.

''They say seven years is a milestone to pass,'' laughs Eliott as he passes them.

Lucas slaps his arm, looking up at the sky.

''I've put up with him for 18 years. That's not going to scare me," answers Mr Rodrigue, looking at Eliott.

Eliott stops. Lucas hits himself in the back before taking a step back.

''Sorry to have been a little asshole, to have come without permission and to have misjudged you. And for my attitude in class."

Mr Coutan looks at Eliott in amazement and then Lucas and smiles at them.

''Thank you, Eliott. It's never too late to change. See, Lucas, I told you you'd be good for him."

And Eliott gets on the bus laughing and sits behind Yann and Arthur while Basile sits next to Daphne.

"You see you're a serious student." he laughs as he hugs Lucas ''and a very good tutor!''.

"Maybe" grands Lucas, wedging his head against Elliot's chest. "Do you want me to teach you?"

"Maybe," laughs Elliot.

"You could go to art school with your talent." says Lucas, playing with Elliot's fingers.

Elliot sighs in Lucas' hair.

''I missed my high school graduation last year. I mean, I didn't take it 'cause I was depressed. And I'm probably gonna flunk it this year, too."

"Definitely not." Lucas' straightens up.

''Lucas.'' moans Eliott as if to apologize.

''My boyfriend is certainly not going to give up on the obstacles.'' He kisses her before he goes back to "We're gonna work together and you're gonna make it. You're not nearly as dumb as you're trying to make it sound, baby."

Eliott hears him giggling in the backseat, but he doesn't care. He's hugging Lucas to get him back up against his chest.

"You're a junior, you're not gonna make me work my ass off." Eliott laughs as he thinks back at his boyfriend's words.

''No way. But I'm gonna work on my classes while you work on yours. And if you work hard, you'll get a reward."

"Reward?" whispers Elliot as he kisses Lucas' ear.

Lucas turns and kisses Elliot, then sits on his lap, one leg on either side of Elliot's thighs.

"A great reward for your efforts," he whispers before he kisses him.

Eliot moans in Lucas' mouth as Lucas slips his hands under his shirt.

''Guys, calm down. Lucas sits in your seat or you'll be swapping places with Basile."

Mr. Coutan's voice startled them. Lucas feels like the whole bus is laughing, but he doesn't care. He gets back in his seat laughing, while Elliot laughs just as much.

Lucas takes out his phone and shows Eliott some revision programs. They talk about the courses and especially about the rewards promised by Lucas.

The bus stops after two hours and for the first time, Lucas is almost the first to get off. Eliott holds his hand and they run to the toilet. After a quick glance, making sure they are alone, they enter together into the farthest cabin.

''Fuck Lucas'' says Eliott between kisses. ''Do you think it's smart to light me up in the middle of a bus full of students?''

"I just said I could give you a taste of the awards."

Lucas kisses him as he runs his hands underneath Elliot's shirt. Lucas' lips find Elliot's neck. He leaves two gentle kisses, then bites him gently. The moan that comes out of Elliot is not at all discreet.  
Lucas lets his hand slip into the jeans, then into Eliott's boxer shorts and gently caresses him, while biting him again.

''Damn Lucas."

"Shh," he says as he kisses him to shut him up.

And Lucas goes down, very gently, until he's almost on his knees in front of Elliot. He squeezes a few wet kisses down his length and then takes it in his mouth. Eliott bends over and Lucas is happy when he notices that he bites his fist to avoid making any noise.  
This gives Lucas all the confidence he needs to go back and forth on Eliott's cock. He caresses it at the same time, sometimes only taking his tip in his mouth, sometimes trying to take it all in. 

Eliott gently pulls Lucas' hair and Lucas understands that he is close but he doesn't stop. He continues to caress him, while licking the end. Even if he was expecting Eliott to come, it takes him by surprise. The fact that it's so fast, so hot. Then he jumps up and almost chokes. He gets up, looking for air and coughs, while Eliott taps him on the back.

"Damn it, Lucas, I'm sorry."

Lucas continues to cough, raising his index finger to Elliot to stall him. He returns to normal breathing, wipes his mouth with his sleeve cuff and then starts laughing.

''I don't believe it. I'm so sorry, Eliott. I'm so ashamed."

And Elliot pulls him up against him.

''It was perfect. It really was."

Lucas looks up at him, rolling his eyes.

"Even the part where I'm half choking to death?"

And Elliot starts laughing.

''Okay. Almost perfect then."

And Eliott kisses Lucas, much softer than before.

"We could stand here until the end of time," he whispers in his ear.

''In the bathroom, really?'' Lucas laughs.

Eliott looks around, like he's forgotten where they are.

"Okay, maybe not."

Lucas' phone vibrates in his pocket. He grabs it and sees he's got 14 missed calls from Yann. 15 now. His eyes linger on the time.

"Damn, we're 10 minutes late."

They run out and get to the bus as fast as they can. Mr Coutan sighs as they arrive, looks up and calls the other teachers who were looking for them in the car park.  
Lucas knows what they look like. Their hair is all messed up, their lips are swollen and Eliott isn't even dressed properly.  
They get on the bus without saying a word and get clapped again. But this time, Lucas smiles. 

Basile bends over in the middle of the aisle to see Lucas.

''What were you doing with Demaury?''

All the friends burst out laughing. It's the best trip of his life, by all accounts.


	6. Last voyage

Lucas takes his bag from the hold, puts it next to him and sighs. 

"Come on, man, try to have some fun," Basile says softly.

Lucas doesn't even deign to look up at him and just sighs. This week is going to be awful. If he wasn't afraid of getting caught, he would have pretended to be sick so he wouldn't have to come, but he's not brave enough already, and then his friends would never have forgiven him. 

Basile has been talking about this school trip for months. It's the last one of their lives, since they're seniors. He hasn't stopped pointing out that last year Lucas didn't want to come either and that in the end, he is the first to say that it was the best trip of his life. Except this time, Eliott won't be going. 

Lucas smiles as he thinks back to the discussion they had on the way back. Eliott has worked a lot the rest of the year. He got his bachelor's degree and went to the art school he was attending. Lucas couldn't be more proud of him. It's been a tough year at times. Between Lucas' panic attacks, and the Eliott episodes, there were a lot of twists and turns, but they always stuck together. For the past six months, Eliott has been officially living at the roommate. It was Mika who offered them to make it official, because all of Eliott's stuff was already there, as well as Eliott most of the time. 

Lucas grumbles at the thought of Mika and Eliott alone at the roommate. Lisa's there, of course, but she's probably gonna crash on the couch or lock herself in her room. The usual. Lucas can't push away the idea that Mika will take advantage of the occasion to tell Eliott a lot of embarrassing things about him. Not like he hasn't already, by the way. Not like Mika hasn't already told Elliot everything after all.

''Come on, Lucas, the bus has to leave'' Mr. Coutan tells him nicely. 

Lucas enters the shelter and heads straight for the room he shared with the guys last year. The boys settle down, laughing, taking up the same beds as the previous year. Lucas takes Eliott's bed. Which he slept in every night last year, finally. 

''Do you have a bed left?'' asks Mr. Rodrigue, sticking his head in their dormitory and then he steps back, shouting, ''All right, come here.''

The boys watch Theo go into their dormitory. Theo is in first grade. He came into the school at the beginning of the year. He's pretty quiet. When four friends look at him, he seems even more shy.

"Here you're safe", the teacher says to him before leaving.

"Sorry," apologizes Theo, but he doesn't go into the room. "The boys in the first grade said I can't sleep in their dorm because I'm gay." The boy looks at his shoes. "Sorry to impose on me like this."

Lucas walks up to him and strokes his arm.

''It's okay, don't worry about it. I'm gay, too."

"And I'm bi," says Arthur, smiling at him.

"I'm with Daphne," laughs Basile, "but if Eliott doesn't want Lucas anymore, I could switch sides."

While Yann and Arthur laugh, Lucas throws his pillow at Basile's head.

"That's cool, man." Lucas comforts him by taking his bag from him and putting it on his old bed. 

''Thanks, guys. That's nice, man. They're really dumb."

''I've been dumber than this,'' says Lucas as all the boys nod their heads.

They split up for class but Theo joins them to get their equipment. Lucas looks at him as he picks out his shoes. He is less tall than Eliott but taller than Lucas. He is blond and his hair falls out in front of his eyes almost all the time. He is rather thin but not as thin as Lucas, although Lucas has put on a little weight since last year.   
Lucas lets himself think that if he didn't have Eliott in his life, getting to know Theo a little more could have been nice. It's the first time he thinks that since he is with Elliot. But maybe it's because Theo reminds him of himself last year. Maybe it's because Theo reminds him of himself last year. It probably is. 

To celebrate the end of the first day, the students threw a party on the top floor. Like last year, each student brought drinks hidden in their suitcases. Basile brought two suitcases so he could take as many as possible.   
Instead of going with his friends, Lucas stayed in the room and tried to call Eliott. After going to his voicemail twice, he gets a text message.

_Sorry kitten, I just put a conditioning mask on your Eliott. He's not to move for 30 minutes._   
_He's telling you to go have fun and not spend the evening in the bedroom._

Lucas grunts and stuff his phone under his pillow before reaching the top floor. If Eliott is having fun with Mika, he can have fun with his friends.   
After a few beers, he already feels more in the mood for fun. Yann is chatting with a premiere, while Arthur tries to hook up with Alexia. Again. Basile dances with Daphne but leaves her as soon as he sees Lucas.

''Oh, Lulu. Come dance."

Lucas gently pushes him away, not wanting to dance while he watches Basile and Daphne kiss, reminding him he's alone tonight. So he goes back to the back of the room to get a beer. 

There's so much noise in this room, he goes out into the hallway.

"Hey, faggot, you think you can check us out anytime you want?"

The words hurt Lucas' stomach. He sees Theo in the corner of the hall, surrounded by two first-class guys. Lucas doesn't hesitate a second. 

''You little pricks'' he grumbles to the two boys ''even if you were gay, he wouldn't want to date assholes like you. Not all gay men are after you, you know."

The two boys turn around, obviously upset that Lucas is talking to them like this.

''And then what, you're gonna hit me? Or Theo? It already happened last year. And the two idiots got kicked out of school. You wanna try it?"

The two boys look at each other and shrug. The first one leaves while sipping his beer. The second looks at Lucas then Theo and whispers a "sorry" so low the boys almost miss it. But they don't.

''Thank you. But I'm used to it, you know. That's why I switched schools.'' Theo says as he peels himself off the wall.

It hurts Lucas.

''You shouldn't be used to it. Come on, let's show 'em how faggots can have fun without jumping on each other."

Lucas grabs Theo by the wrist and drags him onto the dance floor with his friends. They laugh and dance until the music turns off.   
Lucas feels pretty euphoric when he gets back to the dorm. Eliott would have been so proud of him. But if Eliott had been there, he would have been the one who would have defended Theo. He certainly would have. Lucas frowns at the idea. He goes upstairs to bed and retrieves his phone from under his pillow. He has four missed calls from Eliott and a message he received two hours ago.

_Sounds like you decided to have some fun. I hope you're enjoying it, but not too much ;-) I'm going to bed. Love you.  
_

Lucas feels the guilt rising inside him. He didn't think about Elliot the whole time he was dancing. Basile's drunken laughter cut him off from his thoughts.

''Don't get the wrong bed this time, Lulu. It'll get you in trouble. And I'm not sure Theo would like you to sleep with him."

Arthur and Yann burst out laughing as Theo shrugs his shoulders and laughs.

"Not sure I wouldn't appreciate" he says between chuckles. 

The whole room bursts out laughing, except for Lucas. And even though Lucas knows they are all drunk, he can't shut up the little voice inside him that tells him to be very, very careful about the signals he sends out. 

  
Tuesday has gone by at an astonishing rate. Lucas spent the morning racing with Arthur on the difficult tracks until they were joined by Theo and some tenth grade students. Lucas took great pleasure in beating them on every run. 

The classes... were true to form. And now Lucas is sitting on his bed grumbling. He didn't manage to talk to Elliot, not this morning, not at lunch break. And now it's gone to voicemail three times. The signal to get a message makes him jump.

_Sorry, I went out with Mika. We're in a bar. Too much music. I won't hear you. Have fun._

Lucas reads the message again. None _I love you_. None i'm _missing you_...

He's in a bar with Mika. Which is a gay bar, that's for sure. Lucas is blow up, raving and throwing his phone across the bed.

"Come on, Lulu, are you coming or what?" Basile asks as he opens the bedroom door.

Lucas doesn't feel like partying in the music room. The place of their first kiss. He feels like crying. To bury himself under the covers and cry. Because if he goes there, pissed off as he is, he'll get drunk and do things he'll regret. 

"No. I'm tired."

"No way" yells Basile. "You're coming, at least five minutes."

Lucas sighs but Basile doesn't move from his position so Lucas abdicates.

''Okay five minutes. Not one more."

As Lucas walks through the fire doors, he recognizes Alexia singing. He assumes that Yann accompanies her on the guitar. 

"Come on, Lulu, we're missing the piano part." Alexia calls out for him as soon as he walks through the door.

Sighing, Lucas settles down at the piano and plays with his friends. They have rehearsed so much for the music option at the BAC that they are in sync. 

"Come on Lucas, play us your song," Basile asks as he joins him.

Lucas nods and pretends to stand up, but several students ask him the same thing. So he sits down and plays. _"I love you"._ It's really their song. It's like they're a couple. Sometimes it's a whirlwind of emotions, sometimes it's fast, and sometimes it's slow and sweet. Lucas can't stop smiling when he plays with his eyes closed. He's so in love with Elliot. Nothing and no one can match him.

When the last note sounds and he opens his eyes, Lucas sees Eliott, as if he were right in front of him. When Eliott's lips meet his, he is so startled that he almost falls on the bench. But fortunately, his better half's large hands hold him back in time.

''I love you too, Lucas,'' whispers Elliot before he kisses him again. 

Lucas is just totally overwhelmed. He's completely stoic. Even his eyelashes don't move. When Elliot kisses him again and laughs, he seems to come to life. 

''What the fuck are you doing here?'' He finally lets it out.

All his friends gathered around them burst out laughing as Elliot pretends to be offended.

''Good to see you, too. But if I'm bothering you, I can go back."

Lucas throws himself in Elliot's arms and hugs him as hard as he can.

''Never. But how did you? Why?"

Elliot winks at his accomplices. 

''I took the train this morning. And I walked here. The boys made me come in through the back door. Why? Because I love you, Lucas. Because we kissed here for the first time and this is probably the last time we'll ever come here. So I wanted to share that with you."

Lucas is kissing her like nobody's watching.

''I really fucking have the best boyfriend in the whole world,'' Lucas exclaims between kisses.

"Impossible," Eliott replies sweetly, "I've got him."

"Get a room" moans Yann behind them. 

Lucas seems to remember they have a room here, and leads Eliott through the corridors to their first bed. 

They kiss as soon as the door is closed. Lucas learns that Eliott has sworn not to have sex in the room, the only condition to get the boys' help. Lucas sighs but he is so happy that it is only a detail. Once they have taken off their pants and T-shirts, Lucas climbs up the ladder while Eliott climbs into bed without using it. He laughs as he helps Lucas up, not at all gracefully. They lie down against each other.

''I can't believe it. You're really great." Lucas whispers as he kisses him, "I love you."

Eliott's laughing.

"If we get caught, you'll think I'm not so great."

Lucas hits him in the forearm. 

''If we get caught, I don't know you anymore. I have to stay in school for another five months."

And Elliot laughs as he holds Lucas close to him.

"I want to spend my life with you, Lucas."

"Me too, Elliot."

And then Eliott stands up on one elbow and strokes Lucas' hand.

''I mean, like, really. I want to marry you, Lucas."

"I mean, like really." Lucas repeats in the same tone. "I totally agree, Elliot."

"Then marry me," whispers Elliot, passing him a gray ring around his ring finger.

Lucas looks at his hand, then at Elliot, then at his hand. 

"Damn it, Elliot, you're a pain in the ass."

Eliott sits up in bed so fast, he hits the ceiling. Lucas bursts out laughing and joins him to rub his head.

''I was planning on asking you out for your birthday. I wanted to wait till I graduated."

Eliott pulls a box out of his jeans pocket and puts it at the foot of the bed.

''I know. Mika told me when I told her why I was coming here. But I couldn't give up my plans."

So Eliott hands Mika a box that he recognizes as his own. It is the ring he and Mika chose for Eliott's proposal. Lucas opens it and gets his ring back. 

''Eliott. If I knew you were here with me, I would have proposed you here. I love you and I really want to spend my life with you. There's no way I'm going to spend one minute of my life without you. Do you officially want to be my half?"

"Damn, Lucas, you're a pain in the ass." Eliott laughs before he kisses Lucas.

They rest their foreheads against each other with a smile on their faces.

"I will if you will."

"I will if you will."

Lucas takes the ring out of the box and puts it on Elliot's finger before kissing him. The door opens slowly, just letting Basile's head through.

"Are you decent?"

"We're engaged!" the boys shout, showing off their hands, now adorned with a silver ring. 

The boys can't hold back their screams. They start jumping all over the room. It takes them an hour before they calm down. 

"Isn't Theo here?" they finally ask for Lucas when they all get back to their beds.

"Do you miss him?" laughs Basile. "Greedy."

Lucas throws his pillow in his head.

"We saw him leave hand in hand with a guy from second grade. They were going to his dormitory," says Arthur.

Lucas sighs with relief and huddles up against Elliot.

''We'll be back here next year'' whispers Elliot in his ear ''and every year. This will be our tradition. Our children will learn to ski here. We'll be happy, baby."

Lucas nods his head.

"I'm totally up for it." he whispers back.

"Ditto," yells Basile.

"Same" continues Arthur.

"Count on me too" confirms Yann.

Eliott and Lucas laugh with their hands entwined and fall asleep happy.


End file.
